Until the 20th century, the language's spoken form was the language of only the upper noble classes and urban population, as Russian peasants from the countryside continued to speak in their own dialects. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the compulsory education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features (such as fricative [ɣ] in Southern Russian dialects) are still observed in colloquial speech. COUNT 4
QSN1 When did Russian language spread to the peasants? ANS1 the 20th century QSN2 Who spoke Russian before the 20th century? ANS2 the upper noble classes and urban population QSN3 When did the Soviets establish required education? ANS3 the mid-20th century QSN4 What nonstandard feature does Southern Russian use? ANS4 fricative