Ukrainian українська мова ukrayins'ka mova
Pronunciation:	[ukrɑˈjinʲsʲkɑ ˈmɔʋɑ]
Spoken in:	See article
Total speakers:	39 million
Ranking:	26
Language family:	Indo-European  Balto-Slavic   Slavic    East Slavic     Ukrainian
Official status
Official language in:	Ukraine Transnistria (Moldova)
Regulated by:	National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	uk
ISO 639-2:	ukr
ISO 639-3:	ukr
Ukrainian-speaking world
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Balto-Slavic language group consists of the Baltic and Slavic languages, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of Slavic languages, currently spoken in Eastern Europe. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Transnistria, also known as Trans-Dniester, Transdniestria, and Pridnestrovie (full name Pridnestrovian Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova ( Republica Moldova) is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Національна академія наук України Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny) is the highest state research ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Ukrainian (украї́нська мо́ва, ukrayins'ka mova, [ukrɑ'jinʲsʲkɑ ˈmɔʋɑ]) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of Slavic languages, currently spoken in Eastern Europe. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages It is the official state language of Ukraine. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Written Ukrainian uses a Cyrillic alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by The language shares some vocabulary with the languages of the neighboring Slavic nations, most notably with Polish, Slovak, in the West and Belarusan and Russian to the North. Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. The Slovak language ( slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with Slovenščina) sometimes referred to as "Slovakian" The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages

The Ukrainian language traces its origins to the Old Slavic language of early medieval state of Kievan Rus'. to make sure old Cyrillic letters are displayed properly (For example instead of just Ѣ write Ѣ Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Русь romanised: Kievskaya Rus', rusʲ also written as Kyivan Rus′ (Ки́ївська Русь or Kievan In its earlier stages it was called Ruthenian. "Ukrainian is a lineal descendant of the colloquial language used in Kievan Rus" (10th–13th century). ^[1]

The language has persisted despite several periods of bans and/or discouragement throughout centuries as it has always maintained a sufficient base among the people of Ukraine, its folklore songs, itinerant musicians, and prominent authors. A Kobzar (кобзар pl kobzari кобзарі was a itinerant Ukrainian bard

History

See also: History of Ukraine

Perspective

Before the eighteenth century the precursor to the modern Ukrainian language was a vernacular language used mostly by peasants and petits bourgeois which existed side-by-side with Church Slavonic, a literary language of religion that evolved from the Old Slavonic. The territory of Ukraine was a key centre of East Slavic culture in the Middle Ages, before being divided between a variety of powers Petit-bourgeoisie (or petty bourgeois through Folk etymology) is a French term that originally referred to the members of the lower middle social-classes Church Slavonic (also Church Slavic, Old Bulgarian) is the Liturgical language of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox to make sure old Cyrillic letters are displayed properly (For example instead of just Ѣ write Ѣ Although the spoken Ukrainian language was in no danger of extinction, it was only raised to the level of a language of literature, philosophy and science by being promoted at the expense of a separate "high language", be it Greek, Church Slavonic, Polish, Latin or Russian.

In 1798 Ivan Kotlyarevsky published an epic poem, Eneyida, a burlesque in Ukrainian, based on Virgil's Aeneid. Ivan Petrovych Kotlyarevsky (Іван Петрович Котляревський ( Poltava – Poltava was a Ukrainian writer poet and a playwright widely Burlesque is a genre of entertainment also known as Travesty. For the group of nine Ancient Egyptian deities see Ennead. The Aeneid (əˈniːɪd in The book turned out to be the first literary work published in the vernacular Ukrainian, becoming an undying classic of Ukrainian literature.

The Ukrainian language reflects the history of Ukraine, which is mostly comprised of the periods of foreign domination and resistance to it. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe.

Origin

Ukrainian traces its roots through the mid-fourteenth century Ruthenian language, a chancellery language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, back to the early written evidences of tenth-century Kievan Rus'. Ruthenian (also The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė old literary Lithuanian Didi Kunigiste Letuvos, Ruthenian: Wialikaje Kniastwa Litowskaje Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Русь romanised: Kievskaya Rus', rusʲ also written as Kyivan Rus′ (Ки́ївська Русь or Kievan One of the key difficulties in tracing the origin of the Ukrainian language more precisely is that until the end of the 18th century the written language used in Ukraine was quite different from the spoken one. For this reason, there is no direct data on the origin of the Ukrainian language. One has to rely on indirect methods: analysis of typical mistakes in old manuscripts, comparison of linguistic data with historical, anthropological, archaeological ones, etc. Because of the difficulty of the question, several theories of the origin of Ukrainian language exist. Some early theories have been proven wrong by modern linguistics (yet are still often cited), while others are still being discussed in the academic community.

Direct written evidence of Ukrainian language existence dates back to the late 16th century. ^[2] The language itself must have formed earlier, but there are differing opinions as to the exact circumstances and time-frame of its creation.

It is known that between 9th and 13th century, many areas of modern Ukraine, Belarus and parts of Russia were united in a common entity now referred to as Kievan Rus'. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Surviving documents from the Kievan Rus' period are written in either Old East Slavic or Old Church Slavonic language or their mixture. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries to make sure old Cyrillic letters are displayed properly (For example instead of just Ѣ write Ѣ Old East Slavic had different dialects in different earldoms of Kievan Rus. These languages are considerably different from both modern Ukrainian and Russian language (but similar enough to allow considerable comprehension of the 11th-century texts by an educated Ukrainian or Russian reader).

In 13th century, eastern parts of Kievan Rus' (including Moscow) came under Tatar yoke for the three centuries to come, whereas in the western areas (including Kiev) the brief Tatar period ended as the territory was incorporated into Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of The Mongol invasion of Rus' was heralded by the Battle of the Kalka River in 1223 between Subutai 's reconnaissance unit and the combined force Kiev, also known as Kyiv ( Ukrainian:, Kyiv, ˈkɪjiw Russian:, Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names) is the The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė old literary Lithuanian Didi Kunigiste Letuvos, Ruthenian: Wialikaje Kniastwa Litowskaje For the following four centuries, the two languages evolved in relative isolation from each other. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Old Slavic became a language of the chancellery and gradually evolved into Ruthenian language. Ruthenian (also By the 1569 Union of Lublin that formed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a significant part of Ukrainian territory was moved from Lithuanian rule to Polish administration, resulting in the cultural Polonization and attempts to colonize Ukraine by Polish nobility. The Union of Lublin (Liublino unija Belarusian: Лю́блінская ву́нія Polish: Unia The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, officially the Commonwealth of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also known as the Most Serene Republic Polonization (polonizacja is the acquisition or imposition Colonisation (also known as Colonization) occurs whenever any one or more species populates a new area It is known, for example, that many Ukrainian nobles learned the Polish language and adopted Catholicism during that period. ^[3] Lower classes have been less affected but as the literacy was limited to the upper class and clergy and the latter was also under the Polish pressure to come into a Union with the Catholic Church that dominated Poland the effect on the literary language has been strong. Union of Brest ( Belarusian: Берасьцейская унія, Ukrainian: Берестейська унія, Unia brzeska refers to the Most of the educational system gradually Polonized and the most generously funded institutions in the west of Ruthenia had a deteriorating effect on the Ruthenian indigenous culture. In the Polish Ruthenia the language of administrative documents gradually shifted towards Polish. By the 16th century the peculiar official language was formed: a mixture of Old Church Slavonic, Ruthenian language and Polish with the influence of the latter gradually increasing. to make sure old Cyrillic letters are displayed properly (For example instead of just Ѣ write Ѣ Ruthenian (also Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. Documents soon took on Polish characteristics superimposed on Ruthenian phonetics. ^[4] Much of the influence of Polish on Ukrainian has be attributed to this period.

By the mid 17th century, the linguistic divergence between Ukrainian and Russian languages was so acute that there was a need for translators during negotiations for the Treaty of Pereyaslav, between Bohdan Khmelnytsky, head of the Zaporozhian Host, and the Russian state. The Treaty of Pereyaslav (Pereiaslav was concluded in 1654 in the Ukrainian city of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi (Pereyaslav Bohdan Zynovii Mykhailovych Khmel'nyts'kyi (Богдан Зиновій Михайлович Хмельницький commonly transliterated as Khmelnytsky; known in The Zaporozhian Cossacks (Запорожці Zaporozhtsi,were Cossacks who lived in Zaporizhia, in Central Ukraine Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending

The first theory of the origin of Ukrainian language was suggested in the Imperial Russia in the middle of the 18th century by Mikhail Lomonosov. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (Михаи́л Васи́льевич Ломоно́сов () was a Russian Polymath, scientist This theory posits the existence of a common language spoken by all East Slavic people in the time of the Kievan Rus'. The East Slavs are a Slavic ethnic group, the speakers of East Slavic languages. Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Русь romanised: Kievskaya Rus', rusʲ also written as Kyivan Rus′ (Ки́ївська Русь or Kievan According to Lomonosov, the differences that subsequently developed between Great Russian and Ukrainian (then referred to as Little Russian) could be explained by the influence of the Polish language on Ukrainian and the influence of Turkic languages on Russian during the period from 13th to 17th century. Great Russian language (Russian Великорусский язык Velikorusskiy yazyk) is a name given in the 19th century to the Russian language as opposed Little Russia, sometimes Little or Lesser Rus’ ( Malorossiya; Mala Rus’) was the name applied to parts of the territory of modern-day Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. The Turkic languages constitute a Language family of some thirty languages spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the

The "Polonization" theory was criticized as early as in the first half of the nineteenth century by Mykhailo Maxymovych. In fact, the most distinctive features of the Ukrainian language are present neither in Russian nor in Polish. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. Ukrainian and Polish language do share many common or similar words, but so do all Slavic languages, since many words originated in the Proto-Slavic language, the common ancestor of all modern Slavic languages. Proto-Slavic is the Proto-language from which Slavic languages later emerged A much smaller part of their common vocabulary can be attributed to the later interaction of the two languages. The "Polonization" theory has not been seriously regarded by the academic community since the beginning of the 20th century, although it is still cited by anti-Ukrainian elements.

Another point of view developed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by linguists of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Similarly to Lomonosov, they assumed the existence of a common language spoken by East Slavs in the past. The East Slavs are a Slavic ethnic group, the speakers of East Slavic languages. But unlike Lomonosov's hypothesis, this theory does not view "Polonization" or any other external influence as the main driving force that led to the formation of three different languages: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian from the common Old East Slavic language. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries This general point of view is one of the most popular,^[5] particularly outside Ukraine. The supporters of this theory disagree, however, about the time when the different languages were formed.

Soviet scholars set the divergence between Ukrainian and Russian only at later time periods (fourteenth through sixteenth centuries). According to this view, Old East Slavic diverged into Belarusian and Ukrainian to the west (collectively, the Ruthenian language of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries), and Old Russian to the north-east, after the political boundaries of Kievan Rus’ were redrawn in the fourteenth century. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries Ruthenian (also The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Русь romanised: Kievskaya Rus', rusʲ also written as Kyivan Rus′ (Ки́ївська Русь or Kievan During the time of the incorporation of Ruthenia (Ukraine and Belarus) into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ukrainian and Belarusian diverged into identifiably separate languages. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, officially the Commonwealth of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also known as the Most Serene Republic

Some scholars see a divergence between the language of Galicia-Volhynia and the language of Novgorod-Suzdal by the 1100s, assuming that before the 12th century the two languages were practically indistinguishable. The Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia ( Ruthenian: sla Галицко-Волинскоє Королѣвство Regnum Galiciæ et Lodomeriæ or Galicia-Vladimir, was Veliky Novgorod (Вели́кий Но́вгород is the foremost historic city of North-Western Russia and the administrative center of Novgorod Suzdal (Су́здаль is a town in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, situated north-east of Moscow, from the city of This point of view is, however, at variance with some historical data. In fact, several East Slavic tribes, such as Polans, Drevlyans, Severians, Dulebes (that later likely became Volhynians and Buzhans), White Croats, Tiverians and Ulichs lived on the territory of today's Ukraine long before the 12th century. The East Slavs are a Slavic ethnic group, the speakers of East Slavic languages. The Polans (Поляни Polyany, Поляне Polyane) were a Tribe of Early East Slavs between the 6th and the 9th century The Drevlians ( Деревляни, Derevliany in Ukrainian; Древляне, Drevlyane in Russian) were a Tribe The Severians or Severyans or Siverians were a tribe or tribal union of Early East Slavs occupying areas to the east of the middle Dnieper river The Dulebs ( Dulebes) or (more correct Dulebi ( Дуле́бы Дуліби) were one of the tribal unions of Early East Slavs Volhynians (Волиняни Volyniany) were a Tribe or tribal union of Early East Slavs. The Buzhans or (more correct Buzhane ( Бужане, Бужани) were one of the tribal unions of Early East Slavs. White Croats ( Byelohravati) is the designation for one group of Slavic (Croatian tribes which migrated to Dalmatia (the coastal part of today's Croatia Tivertsi, aka Tivertsy, Tiverians ( Тиверцы in Russian, Тиверці in Ukrainian) is a tribe of Early East Slavs The Ulichs (Uglichs ( Уличи (Угличи in Russian, Уличі (Угличі in Ukrainian) were a Tribe of Early Notably, some Ukrainian features were recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic as far back as the language can be documented^[6]. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries

Some researchers, while admitting the differences between the dialects spoken by East Slavic tribes in the 10th and 11th centuries, still consider them as "regional manifestations of a common language" (see, for instance, the article by Vasyl Nimchuk). The East Slavs are a Slavic ethnic group, the speakers of East Slavic languages. Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. In contrast, Ahatanhel Krymsky and Alexei Shakhmatov assumed the existence of the common spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times. Aleksey Aleksandrovich Shakhmatov ( 5 June 1864 - 16 August 1920) was an outstanding Russian philologist credited with laying ^[7] According to their point of view, the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries

A Ukrainian linguist Stepan Smal-Stocky went even further: he denied the existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries ^[8] Similar points of view were shared by Yevhen Tymchenko, Vsevolod Hantsov, Olena Kurylo, Ivan Ohienko and others. Metropolitan Ilarion (secular name Ivan Ohienko) (Іван Іванович Огієнко January 2 (January 15 1882 Brusyliv, near Kiev – March According to this theory, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages during the 6th through 9th centuries. The East Slavs are a Slavic ethnic group, the speakers of East Slavic languages. Proto-Slavic is the Proto-language from which Slavic languages later emerged The Ukrainian language was formed by convergence of tribal dialects, mostly due to an intensive migration of the population within the territory of today's Ukraine in later historical periods. This point of view was also confirmed by phonological studies of Yuri Shevelov^[9] and is gaining a number of supporters among Ukrainian academics.

Medieval history

Beyond the polemics between several ideological conceptions, the continuous presence of Slavic settlements in Ukraine, since at least the sixth century, provides an underlying ethno-linguistic factual basis for the origins of the Ukrainian language. The westernmost areas of modern-day Ukraine lay to the south of the postulated homeland of the original Slavs.

Immigration of Slavic tribes to the Western Slavic and Southern Slavic portions of Eastern Europe led to the dissolution of Early Common Slavic into three groups by the seventh century (East Slavic, West Slavic, and South Slavic). Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. Proto-Slavic is the Proto-language from which Slavic languages later emerged Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries The West Slavic languages is a subdivision of the Slavic language group that includes Czech, Polish, Slovak, and Sorbian. South Slavic languages comprise one of the three geographical groups of Slavic languages (besides West and East Slavic) During this time period, some East Slavic elements could have provided a Slavic identity to the Antes civilization (of which nothing but an Iranian name is known).

Rus' and Galicia-Volhynia

During the Khazar period, the territory of Ukraine, settled at that time by Iranian (post-Scythian), Turkic (post-Hunnic, proto-Bulgarian), and Finno-Ugric (proto-Hungarian) tribes, was progressively Slavicized by several waves of migration from the Slavic north. "Kazar" redirects here for the Marvel Comics character see Ka-Zar; for the village in Azerbaijan see Xəzər. The Scythians or Scyths (Σκύθες Σκύθοι were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding Nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic Finally, the Varangian ruler of Novgorod, called Oleg, seized Kiev (Kyiv) and established the political entity of Rus'. The Varangians or Varyags ( Old Norse: Væringjar Greek: Βάραγγοι Βαριάγοι Váraggoi / Varyágoi, Ukrainian Veliky Novgorod (Вели́кий Но́вгород is the foremost historic city of North-Western Russia and the administrative center of Novgorod Oleg of Novgorod ( Slavic: Олег Old Norse: Helgi, Khazarian, possibly Helgu) was a Varangian prince (or konung Kiev, also known as Kyiv ( Ukrainian:, Kyiv, ˈkɪjiw Russian:, Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names) is the Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Русь romanised: Kievskaya Rus', rusʲ also written as Kyivan Rus′ (Ки́ївська Русь or Kievan Some theorists see an early Ukrainian stage in language development here; others term this era Old East Slavic or Old Ruthenian/Rus'ian. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries Russian theorists tend to amalgamate Rus' to the modern nation of Russia, and call this linguistic era Old Russian. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries Some hold that linguistic unity over Rus' was not present, but tribal diversity in language was present.

The era of Rus' is the subject of some linguistic controversy, as the language of much of the literature was purely or heavily Old Slavonic. At the same time, most legal documents throughout Rus' were written in a purely Old East Slavic language (supposed to be based on the Kiev dialect of that epoch). Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries Scholarly controversies over earlier development aside, literary records from Rus' testify to substantial divergence between Russian and Ruthenian/Rusyn forms of the Ukrainian language as early as the era of Rus'. One vehicle of this divergence (or widening divergence) was the large scale appropriation of the Old Slavonic language in the northern reaches of Rus' and of the Polish language at the territory of modern Ukraine. As evidenced by the contemporary chronicles, the ruling princes of Galich (modern Halych) and Kiev called themselves "People of Rus'" (with the exact Cyrillic spelling of the adjective from of Rus' varying among sources), which contrasts sharply with the lack of ethnic self-appellation for the area until the mid-nineteenth century. Halych (Галич Гáлич Halicz Halyčas is a historic city on the Dniester River in western Ukraine.

One prominent example of this north-south divergence in Rus' from around 1200, was the epic, The Tale of Igor's Campaign. The Tale of Igor's Campaign ( Old East Slavic: Слово о плъку Игоревѣ Slovo o plŭku Igorevě; Слово о полку Ігоревім Like other examples of Old Russian literature (for example, Byliny, the Russian Primary Chronicle), it survived only in Northern Russia (Upper Volga belt) and was probably written there. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries Bylina ( Russian: были́на also Byliny, Bylyny and Stariny) is a traditional epic, The Primary Chronicle (ѣѣтъ Пóвесть временны́х лет Povest' vremennykh let; Пóвість врéм'яних літ Povist' vremjanykh It shows dialectal features characteristic of Severian dialect with the exception of two words which were wrongly interpreted by early nineteenth-century German scholars as Polish loan words. Severia (Северщина Severshchina; Сіверія or Сіверщина translit

Under Lithuania/Poland, Muscovy/Russia, and Austro-Hungary

Miniature of St Matthew from the Peresopnytsia Gospels (1561). Matthew the Evangelist (מתי/מתתיהו "Gift of Yahweh " Standard Hebrew and Tiberian Hebrew: Mattay or Mattithyahu

After the fall of Galicia-Volhynia, Ukrainians mainly fell under the rule of Lithuania, then Poland. The Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia ( Ruthenian: sla Галицко-Волинскоє Королѣвство Regnum Galiciæ et Lodomeriæ or Galicia-Vladimir, was The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė old literary Lithuanian Didi Kunigiste Letuvos, Ruthenian: Wialikaje Kniastwa Litowskaje Local autonomy of both rule and language was a marked feature of Lithuanian rule. Polish rule, which came mainly later, was accompanied by a more assimilationist policy. The Polish language has had heavy influences on Ukrainian (and on Belarusian). Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. As the Ukrainian language developed further, some borrowings from Tatar and Turkish occurred. The Tatar language (,, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic Language spoken by the Tatars. Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Ukrainian culture and language flourished in the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth century, when Ukraine was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, officially the Commonwealth of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also known as the Most Serene Republic Ukrainian was also the official language of Ukrainian provinces of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. Among many schools established in that time, the Kiev-Mogila Collegium (the predecessor of modern Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), founded by the Orthodox Metropolitan Peter Mogila (Petro Mohyla), was the most important. National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ( NaUKMA) (Національний університет «Києво-Могилянська академія» (НаУКМА The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world In Hierarchical Christian churches the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the Diocesan bishop or Peter Mogila (Петро Могила Romanian: Petru Movilă; December 21, 1596 &ndash December 22, 1646) was a

In the anarchy of the Khmelnytsky Uprising and following wars, Ukrainian high culture was sent into a long period of steady decline. The term Khmelnytsky Uprising (also Khmel'nyts'kyi/Chmielnicki Uprising or Khmelnytsky / Chmielnicki Rebellion) refers to a Rebellion or In the aftermath, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was taken over by the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Most of the remaining Ukrainian schools also switched to Polish or Russian, in the territories controlled by these respective countries, which was followed by a new wave of Polonization and Russification of the native nobility. Polonization (polonizacja is the acquisition or imposition Russification (in Russian: русификация rusifikátsiya)is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute (whether voluntarily Gradually the official language of Ukrainian provinces under Poland was changed to Polish, while the upper classes in the Russian part of Ukraine used Russian widely.

There was little sense of a Ukrainian nation in the modern sense. East Slavs called themselves Rus’ki ('Russian' pl. adj. ) in the east and Rusyny ('Ruthenians' n. The term Ruthenians (Русини Rusyny) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used ) in the west, speaking Rus’ka mova, or simply identified themselves as Orthodox (the latter being particularly important under the rule of Catholic Poland). The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world A part of Ukraine under the Russian Empire was called Malorossiya (Little or Lesser Rus' or Little Russia, where the inhabitants spoke the 'Little Russian or Southern Russian language', a dialect of the Russian literary language. Little Russia, sometimes Little or Lesser Rus’ ( Malorossiya; Mala Rus’) was the name applied to parts of the territory of modern-day Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages

But during the nineteenth century, a revival of Ukrainian self-identity manifested itself in the literary classes of both Russian-Empire Dnieper Ukraine and Austrian Galicia. Dnieper Ukraine (Наддніпрянщина Naddnipryanshchyna) was the territory of Ukraine in the Russian Empire ( Little Russia) roughly corresponding Galicia (Галичина ( Halychyna) Galicja is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, The Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Kiev applied an old word for the Cossack motherland, Ukrajina, as a self-appellation for the nation of Ukrainians, and Ukrajins’ka mova for the language. The Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius (Кирило-Мефодіївське братство was a short-lived secret political society that existed in Kiev, Many writers published works in the Romantic tradition of Europe demonstrating that Ukrainian was not merely a language of the village, but suitable for literary pursuits.

However, in the Russian Empire expressions of Ukrainian culture and especially language were repeatedly persecuted, for fear that a self-aware Ukrainian nation would threaten the unity of the Empire. In 1847 Taras Shevchenko was arrested and exiled, and banned from writing and painting, for political reasons. Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (Тарáс Григóрович Шевчéнко ( &ndash) was a Ukrainian Poet, Artist and humanist. In 1863, tsarist interior minister Pyotr Valuyev proclaimed in his decree that "there never has been, is not, and never can be a separate Little Russian language". Count Pyotr Aleksandrovich Valuev (alternative spelling Peter Alexandrovich Valuyev) ( September 22, 1815 - January 27, 1890) was The Valuev Circular (Валуевский циркуляр Valuyevskiy tsirkulyar; Валуєвський циркуляр Valuievs’kyi tsyrkuliar) of 18 ^[10] A following ban on Ukrainian books led up to Alexander II's secret Ems Ukaz, which prohibited publication and importation of most Ukrainian-language books, public performances and lectures, and even the printing of Ukrainian texts accompanying musical scores. Alexander (Aleksandr II Nikolaevich (Александр II Николаевич ( Moscow, 29 April 1818 – 13 March 1881 in St The Ems Ukaz, or Ems Ukase (Эмский указ Emskiy ukaz; Емський указ Ems’kyy ukaz) was a secret decree ( Ukaz ^[11] A period of leniency after 1905 was followed by another strict ban in 1914, which also affected Russian-occupied Galicia. (Luckyj 1956:24–25)

For much of the nineteenth century the Austrian authorities favoured Polish culture, but the Ukrainians were relatively free to partake in their own cultural pursuits in Galicia and Bukovyna, where Ukrainian was widely used in education and in official documents. Bukovina (Bucovina Буковина/ Bukovyna; German and Polish: Bukowina; see also other languages) is a historical region on the ^[12] The suppression by Russia retarded the literary development of the Ukrainian language in Dnieper Ukraine, but there was a constant exchange with Galicia, and many works were published under Austria and smuggled to the east.

The name Ukrajins’ka mova 'Ukrainian language' became accepted by much of the Ukrainian literary class during the late nineteenth century under Russia and in the early twentieth in Austro-Hungarian Galicia. By the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of Austro-Hungary in 1918, the former 'Ruthenians' or 'Little Russians' were ready to openly develop a body of national literature, to institute a Ukrainian-language educational system, and to form an independent state, named Ukraine (the Ukrainian People's Republic, shortly joined by the West Ukrainian People's Republic). See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them The Ukrainian People's Republic (Українська Народна Республіка Ukrayins’ka Narodna Respublika; also translated as the Ukrainian National The West Ukrainian National Republic (Західно-Українська Народна Республика Zakhidno-Ukrayins’ka Narodna Respublyka or ЗУНР ZUNR

Further information: Name of Ukraine

Speakers in the Russian Empire

In the Russian Empire Census of 1897 the following picture emerged, with Ukrainian being the second most spoken language of the Russian Empire. The name Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina,) has been used in a variety of ways since the twelfth century The Russian Empire Census of 1897 was the first and the only Census carried out in the Russian Empire. According to the Imperial census's terminology, the Russian language (Russkij) was subdivided into Ukrainian (Malorusskij, 'Little Russian'), what we know as Russian today (Vjelikorusskij, 'Great Russian'), and Belarusian (Bjelorusskij, 'White Russian'). Little Russia, sometimes Little or Lesser Rus’ ( Malorossiya; Mala Rus’) was the name applied to parts of the territory of modern-day Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Great Russian language (Russian Великорусский язык Velikorusskiy yazyk) is a name given in the 19th century to the Russian language as opposed The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova

The following table shows the distribution of settlement by native language ("po rodnomu jazyku") in 1897, in Russian Empire governorates (guberniyas) which had more than 100,000 Ukrainian speakers. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Guberniya (губе́рния) (also gubernia, guberniia, gubernya) was a major administrative subdivision of Imperial Russia, usually ^[13]

Soviet era

The Ukrainian text in this Soviet poster reads: "The Social base of the USSR is an unbreakable union of the workers, peasants and intelligentsia". Vistula Land or Vistula Country (Привислянский Край Privislyansky Krai; Kraj Przywiślański was the name applied for the lands of The Caucasus ( also referred to as North Caucasus) is a geopolitical region located between Europe Asia & Middle East Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Bessarabia ( Basarabia in Romanian, Бесарабія in Ukrainian, Бессарабия in Russian, Бесарабия in Bulgarian Voronezh Oblast (Воро́нежская о́бласть Voronezhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) Don Voisko Province (or Don Voisko Oblast, Область Войска Донского Oblast’ Voyska Donskogo) of Imperial Russia was the official Administrative divisions In 1764 the Novorossiya Guberniya had been created to administer much of the southern steppe after First partition of Kiev Oblast, also written as Kyiv Oblast (Київська область translit Kursk Oblast (Ку́рская о́бласть Kurskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) The region of Podolia (also spelled Podilia or Podillya) is a historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, The Poltava Governorate (Полтавская губернiя translit The Taurida Governorate (Таврическая губернiя modern spelling Таврическая губерния Таврiйська губернiя Tavrida guberniyası or Kharkiv Oblast (Харківська область translit Kharkivs’ka oblast’; also referred to as Kharkivshchyna - Харківщина Administrative divisions From 1809 the governorate consisted of five Uyezds Kherson Aleksandriya (''Oleksandriia'', Ovidiopol, Tiraspol ODESSA which stands for the German phrase O rganisation d er e hemaligen SS - A ngehörigen which in turn translates The Chernigov Governorate (Черниговская губернiя translit Lublin Voivodeship (also known as Lublin Province or województwo lubelskie or simply Lubelskie) is a voivodeship, or Province, in eastern Poland Siedlce Voivodeship (województwo siedleckie was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland in years 1975&ndash1998 superseded by Masovian Voivodeship Kuban ( Кубáнь) is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe Stavropol Krai (Ставропо́льский край Stavropolsky kray) is a federal subject of Russia (a Krai) The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 For the coffee shop company often called Intelligentsia for short see Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea.

During the seven-decade-long Soviet era, the Ukrainian language held the formal position of the principal local language in the Ukrainian SSR. History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union is covered in the following series of articles The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its However, practice was often a different story: Ukrainian always had to compete with Russian, and the attitudes of the Soviet leadership towards Ukrainian varied from encouragement and tolerance to discouragement and, at times, suppression. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages

Officially, there was no state language in the Soviet Union. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Still it was implicitly understood in the hopes of minority nations that Ukrainian would be used in the Ukrainian SSR, Uzbek would be used in the Uzbek SSR, and so on. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its Uzbek ( O‘zbek tili or O'zbekcha in Latin script, Ўзбек тили in Cyrillic script; أۇزبېك ﺗﻴﻠی in Arabic The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси O`zbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi; Узбекская However, Russian was used in all parts of the Soviet Union and a special term, "a language of inter-ethnic communication" was coined to denote its status. In reality, Russian was in a privileged position in the USSR and was the state official language in everything but formal name—although formally all languages were held up as equal. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory Often the Ukrainian language was frowned upon or quietly discouraged, which led to the gradual decline in its usage. Partly due to this suppression, in many parts of Ukraine, notably most urban areas of the east and south, Russian remains more widely spoken than Ukrainian.

Soviet language policy in Ukraine is divided into six policy periods

1. Ukrainianization and tolerance (1921–late-1932)
2. Persecution and russification (1933–1957)
3. Khrushchev thaw (1958–1962)
4. The Shelest period: limited progress (1963–1972)
5. The Shcherbytsky period: gradual suppression (1973–1989)
6. Gorbachev and perestroika (1990–1991)

Ukrainianization and tolerance

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Russian Empire was broken up. See also Russian Revolution (1905 The Russian Revolution of 1916 refers to a series of popular revolutions in Russia, and the events surrounding them The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya In different parts of the former empire, several nations, including Ukrainians, developed a renewed sense of national identity. In the chaotic post-revolutionary years, Ukraine went through several short-lived independent and quasi-independent states, and the Ukrainian language, for the first time in modern history, gained usage in most government affairs. The Ukrainian People's Republic (Українська Народна Республіка Ukrayins’ka Narodna Respublika; also translated as the Ukrainian National Initially, this trend continued under the Bolshevik government of the Soviet Union, which in a political struggle with the old regime had their own reasons to encourage the national movements of the former Russian Empire. The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 While trying to ascertain and consolidate its power, the Bolshevik government was by far more concerned about many political oppositions connected to the pre-revolutionary order than about the national movements inside the former empire.

The 1921 Soviet recruitment poster. It uses traditional Ukrainian imagery with Ukrainian-language text: "Son! Enroll in the school of Red commanders, and the defence of Soviet Ukraine will be ensured. The Red Army ( Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия R aboche- K rest'yanskaya K rasnaya A rmiya The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the 15 constituent republics that made up the Former Soviet Union from its "

The widening use of Ukrainian further developed in the first years of Bolshevik rule into a policy called Korenization. Korenizatsiya (коренизация sometimes also called korenization, meaning "nativization" or "indigenization" literally "putting down roots" The government pursued a policy of Ukrainianization (Ukrayinizatsiya, actively promoting the Ukrainian language), both in the government and among party personnel, and an impressive education program which raised the literacy of the Ukrainophone rural areas. Ukrainization (also spelled Ukrainisation or Ukrainianization) is a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. This policy was led by Education Commissar Mykola Skrypnyk. Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk (Микола Олексійович Скрипник January 25 [ O Newly-generated academic efforts from the period of independence were co-opted by the Bolshevik government. The party and government apparatus was mostly Russian-speaking but were encouraged to learn the Ukrainian language. Simultaneously, the newly-literate ethnic Ukrainians migrated to the cities, which became rapidly largely Ukrainianized — in both population and in education.

The policy even reached those regions of southern Russian SFSR where the ethnic Ukrainian population was significant, particularly the areas by the Don River and especially Kuban in the North Caucasus. The Don (Дон is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 Kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast Kuban ( Кубáнь) is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe The North Caucasus, also Ciscaucasus, Ciscaucasia or Forecaucasia, is the northern part of the Caucasus region between Europe Ukrainian language teachers, just graduated from expanded institutions of higher education in Soviet Ukraine, were dispatched to these regions to staff newly opened Ukrainian schools or to teach Ukrainian as a second language in Russian schools. A string of local Ukrainian-language publications were started and departments of Ukrainian studies were opened in colleges. Overall, these policies were implemented in thirty-five raions (administrative districts) in southern Russia. For the manufactured regenerated fiber see Rayon A raion (or rayon) (райо́н ra'jon rayon раён რაიონი

Persecution and russification

Anti-russification protest. The banner reads “For Ukrainian children - Ukrainian school!”.

Soviet policy towards the Ukrainian language changed abruptly in late 1932 and early 1933, after Stalin had already established his firm control over the party and, therefore, the Soviet state. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party In December, 1932, the regional party cells received a telegram signed by Molotov and Stalin with an order to immediately reverse the korenization policies. The telegram condemned Ukrainianization as ill-considered and harmful and demanded to "immediately halt Ukrainianization in raions (districts), switch all Ukrainianized newspapers, books and publications into Russian and prepare by autumn of 1933 for the switching of schools and instruction into Russian". For the manufactured regenerated fiber see Rayon A raion (or rayon) (райо́н ra'jon rayon раён რაიონი

The following years were characterized by massive repression and many hardships for the Ukrainian language and people. Some historians, especially of Ukraine, emphasize that the repression was applied earlier and more fiercely in Ukraine than in other parts of the Soviet Union, and were therefore anti-Ukrainian; others assert that Stalin's goal was the generic crushing of any dissent, rather than targeting the Ukrainians in particular.

The Stalinist era also marked the beginning of the Soviet policy of encouraging Russian as the language of (inter-ethnic) Soviet communication. Although Ukrainian continued to be used (in print, education, radio and later television programs), it lost its primary place in advanced learning and republic-wide media. Ukrainian was considered to be of secondary importance, and an excessive attachment to it was considered a sign of nationalism and so "politically incorrect". At the same time, however, the new Soviet Constitution adopted in 1936 stipulated that teaching in schools should be in native languages.

Major repression started in 1929–30, when a large group of Ukrainian intelligentsia was arrested and most were executed. For the coffee shop company often called Intelligentsia for short see Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea. In Ukrainian history, this group is often referred to as "Executed Renaissance" (Ukrainian: розстріляне відродження). "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism" was declared to be the primary problem in Ukraine. Bourgeois nationalism is a term from Marxist phraseology It refers to the practice of dividing people by Nationality, race, Ethnicity, or The terror peaked in 1933, four to five years before the Soviet-wide "Great Purge," which, for Ukraine, was a second blow. Great Purge (Большая чистка transliterated Bolshaya chistka) was a series of campaigns of Political repression and Persecution The vast majority of leading scholars and cultural leaders of Ukraine were liquidated, as were the "Ukrainianized" and "Ukrainianizing" portions of the Communist party. Soviet Ukraine's autonomy was completely destroyed by the late 1930s. In its place, the glorification of Russia as the first nation to throw off the capitalist yoke had begun, accompanied by the migration of Russian workers into parts of Ukraine which were undergoing industrialization and mandatory instruction of classic Russian language and literature. This period of the Soviet Union was dominated by Joseph Stalin, who sought to reshape Soviet society with aggressive economic planning in particular a sweeping collectivization of agriculture Ideologists warned of over-glorifying Ukraine's Cossack past, and supported the closing of Ukrainian cultural institutions and literary publications. The Cossacks (Каза́ки́ Kazaki; Козаки́ Kozaki; Kozacy are a group of martial people living in the southern Steppe regions of Eastern The systematic assault upon Ukrainian identity in culture and education, combined with effects of an artificial famine (Holodomor) upon the peasantry—the backbone of the nation—dealt Ukrainian language and identity a crippling blow from which it would not completely recover. The Holodomor (Голодомор is the famine that took place in Soviet Ukraine during the 1932-1933 agricultural season

This policy succession was repeated in the Soviet occupation of Western Ukraine. In 1939, and again in the late 1940s, a policy of Ukrainianization was implemented. By the early 1950s, Ukrainian was persecuted and a campaign of Russification began.

Khrushchev thaw

While Russian was a de facto official language of the Soviet Union in all but formal name, all national languages were proclaimed equal. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The name and denomination of Soviet banknotes were listed in the languages of all fifteen Soviet republics. The ruble or rouble (рубль see below for other Soviet languages) was the currency of the Soviet Union. The Republics of the Soviet Union were according to the Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Sovereign Soviet Socialist states that had united with other On this 1961 one-ruble note, the Ukrainian for "one ruble", один карбованець (odyn karbovanets’), directly follows the Russian один рубль (odin rubl’).

After the death of Stalin (1953), a general policy of relaxing the language policies of the past was implemented (1958 to 1963). The Khrushchev era which followed saw a policy of relatively lenient concessions to development of the languages on the local and republican level, though its results in Ukraine did not go nearly as far as those of the Soviet policy of Ukrainianization in the 1920s. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (April 17 1894 – September 11 1971 served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 following Journals and encyclopedic publications advanced in the Ukrainian language during the Khrushchev era.

Yet, the 1958 school reform that allowed parents to choose the language of primary instruction for their children, unpopular among the circles of the national intelligentsia in parts of the USSR, meant that non-Russian languages would slowly give way to Russian in light of the pressures of survival and advancement. For the coffee shop company often called Intelligentsia for short see Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea. The gains of the past, already largely reversed by the Stalin era, were offset by the liberal attitude towards the requirement to study the local languages (the requirement to study Russian remained). Parents were usually free to choose the language of study of their children (except in few areas where attending the Ukrainian school might have required a long daily commute) and they often chose Russian, which reinforced the resulting Russification. In this sense, some analysts argue that it was not the "oppression" or "persecution", but rather the lack of protection against the expansion of Russian language that contributed to the relative decline of Ukrainian in 1970s and 1980s. Linguistic purism (or linguistic protectionism) is the definition of one language variety as purer than other varieties often in reference to a perceived decline Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages According to this view, it was inevitable that successful careers required a good command of Russian, while knowledge of Ukrainian was not vital, so it was common for Ukrainian parents to send their children to Russian-language schools, even though Ukrainian-language schools were usually available. While in the Russian-language schools within the republic, the Ukrainian was supposed to be learned as a second language at comparable level, the instruction of other subjects was in Russian and, as a result, students had a greater command of Russian than Ukrainian on graduation. Additionally, in some areas of the republic, the attitude towards teaching and learning of Ukrainian in schools was relaxed and it was, sometimes, considered a subject of secondary importance and even a waiver from studying it was sometimes given under various, ever expanding, circumstances.

The complete suppression of all expressions of separatism or Ukrainian nationalism also contributed to lessening interest in Ukrainian. Some people who persistently used Ukrainian on a daily basis were often perceived as though they were expressing sympathy towards, or even being members of, the political opposition. This, combined with advantages given by Russian fluency and usage, made Russian the primary language of choice for many Ukrainians, while Ukrainian was more of a hobby. A hobby is a spare-time Recreational pursuit Etymology A Hobby horse is a wooden or Wickerwork toy made to be In any event, the mild liberalization in Ukraine and elsewhere was stifled by new suppression of freedoms at the end of the Khrushchev era (1963) when a policy of gradually creeping suppression of Ukrainian was re-instituted.

The next part of the Soviet Ukrainian language policy divides into two eras: first, the Shelest period (early 1960s to early 1970s), which was relatively liberal towards the development of the Ukrainian language. The second era, the policy of Shcherbytsky (early 1970s to early 1990s), was one of gradual suppression of the Ukrainian language.

Shelest period

The Communist Party leader Petro Shelest pursued a policy of defending Ukraine's interests within the Soviet Union. Petro Yukhymovych Shelest (Петро Шелест ( 14 February, 1908 - 22 January, 1996) was the First Secretary of the Communist party in He proudly promoted the beauty of the Ukrainian language and developed plans to expand the role of Ukrainian in higher education. He was removed, however, after only a brief reign, for being too lenient on Ukrainian nationalism.

Shcherbytsky period

The new party boss, Shcherbytsky, purged the local party, was fierce in suppressing dissent, and insisted Russian be spoken at all official functions, even at local levels. Volodymyr Vasylyovych Shcherbytsky (Володимир Васильович Щербицький Владимир Васильевич Щербицкий ( 17 February His policy of Russification was lessened only slightly after 1985.

Gorbachev and perestroika

The management of dissent by the local Ukrainian Communist Party was more fierce and thorough than in other parts of the Soviet Union. The Communist Party (Bolshevik of Ukraine (Комуністична Партія (більшовиків України Komunistychna Partiya (bilshovykiv Ukrayiny, As a result, at the start of the Gorbachev reforms, Ukraine under Shcherbytsky was slower to liberalize than Russia itself. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician Volodymyr Vasylyovych Shcherbytsky (Володимир Васильович Щербицький Владимир Васильевич Щербицкий ( 17 February

Although Ukrainian still remained the native language for the majority in the nation on the eve of Ukrainian independence, a significant share of ethnic Ukrainians were Russified. The Russian language was the dominant vehicle, not just of government function, but of the media, commerce, and modernity itself. This was substantially less the case for western Ukraine, which escaped the artificial famine, Great Purge, and most of Stalinism. The Holodomor (Голодомор is the famine that took place in Soviet Ukraine during the 1932-1933 agricultural season Great Purge (Большая чистка transliterated Bolshaya chistka) was a series of campaigns of Political repression and Persecution Stalinism is the political regime named after Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1929–1953 And this region became the piedmont of a hearty, if only partial renaissance of the Ukrainian language during independence

Independence in the modern era

Modern signs in the Kiev Metro are in Ukrainian. The Kiev Metro (Київський метрополітен or Київське метро Киевский метрополитен Киевское метро is a metro The evolution in their language followed the changes in the language policies in post-war Ukraine. Originally, all signs and voice announcements in the metro were in Ukrainian, but their language was changed to Russian in the early 1980s, at the height of Shcherbytsky's gradual Russification. In the perestroika liberalization of the late 1980s, the signs were changed to bilingual. (Перестройка) is the Russian term (now used in English for the economic reforms introduced in June 1987 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev This was accompanied by bilingual voice announcements in the trains. In the early 1990s, both signs and voice announcements were changed again from bilingual to Ukrainian-only during the Ukrainianization campaign that followed Ukraine's independence. Ukrainization (also spelled Ukrainisation or Ukrainianization) is a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language

Since 1991, independent Ukraine has made Ukrainian the only official state language and implemented government policies to broaden the use of Ukrainian. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory The educational system in Ukraine has been transformed over the first decade of independence from a system that is partly Ukrainian to one that is overwhelmingly so. The government has also mandated a progressively increased role for Ukrainian in the media and commerce. In some cases, the abrupt changing of the language of instruction in institutions of secondary and higher education, led to the charges of Ukrainianization, raised mostly by the Russian-speaking population. Ukrainization (also spelled Ukrainisation or Ukrainianization) is a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language However, the transition lacked most of the controversies that surrounded the de-russification in several of the other former Soviet Republics. Russification (in Russian: русификация rusifikátsiya)is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute (whether voluntarily The Republics of the Soviet Union were according to the Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Sovereign Soviet Socialist states that had united with other

With time, most residents, including ethnic Russians, people of mixed origin, and Russian-speaking Ukrainians started to self-identify as Ukrainian nationals, even though remaining largely Russophone. See also Russophone (novel A Russophone (or russophone; русскоговорящий русскоязычный russkogovoryashchy The state became truly bilingual as most of its population had already been. The Russian language still dominates the print media in most of Ukraine and private radio and TV broadcasting in the eastern, southern, and to a lesser degree central regions. The state-controlled broadcast media became exclusively Ukrainian but that had little influence on the audience because of their programs' low ratings. There are few obstacles to the usage of Russian in commerce and it is de facto still occasionally used in the government affairs.

In the 2001 census, 67. The first Ukrainian Census was carried out by State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on December 5, 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census 5% of the country population named Ukrainian as their native language (a 2. 8% increase from 1989), while 29. 6% named Russian (a 3. 2% decrease). It should be noted, though, that for many Ukrainians (of various ethnic descent), the term native language may not necessarily associate with the language they use more frequently. A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth The overwhelming majority of ethnic Ukrainians consider the Ukrainian language native, including those who often speak Russian and Surzhyk (a blend of Russian vocabulary with Ukrainian grammar and pronunciation). Surzhyk (суржик originally meaning ‘flour or bread made from mixed grains’ e For example, according to the official 2001 census data^[14] approximately 75% of Kiev's population responded "Ukrainian" to the native language (ridna mova) census question, and roughly 25% responded "Russian". Kiev, also known as Kyiv ( Ukrainian:, Kyiv, ˈkɪjiw Russian:, Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names) is the On the other hand, when the question "What language do you use in everyday life?" was asked in the sociological survey, the Kievans' answers were distributed as follows:^[15] "mostly Russian": 52%, "both Russian and Ukrainian in equal measure": 32%, "mostly Ukrainian": 14%, "exclusively Ukrainian": 4. 3%. Ethnic minorities, such as Romanians, Tatars and Jews usually use Russian as their lingua franca. But there are tendencies within minority groups to prefer Ukrainian in many situations. The Jewish writer Aleksandr Abramovic Bejderman from the mainly Russian speaking city of Odessa is now writing most of his dramas in Ukrainian. Emotional relationship towards Ukrainian is partly changing in Southern and Eastern areas, too.

However, opposition to expansion of Ukrainian-language teaching remains very strong in eastern regions closer to Russia — in May 2008, the Donetsk city council prohibited the creation of any new Ukrainian schools in the city in which 80% of them are Russian-language schools. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Donetsk (Донецьк translit Donets’k; Доне́цк translit Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages ^[16]

Literature

See Ukrainian literature

The literary Ukrainian language, which was preceded by Old East Slavic literature, may be subdivided into three stages: old Ukrainian (twelfth to fourteenth centuries), middle Ukrainian (fourteenth to eighteenth centuries), and modern Ukrainian (end of the eighteenth century to the present). Ukrainian literature refers to Literature written in the Ukrainian language. Old East Slavic, also known as Old Russian (древнерусский or Old Ruthenian, was a vernacular literary language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system Much literature was written in the periods of the old and middle Ukrainian language, including legal acts, polemical articles, science treatises and fiction of all sorts.

Influential literary figures in the development of modern Ukrainian literature include the philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, Mykola Kostomarov, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Franko, and Lesia Ukrainka. Hryhorii Skovoroda (Григорій Савич Сковорода Hryhoriy Savych Skovoroda) (1722 - 1794 was a Ukrainian Poet, Philosopher Mykola Ivanovich Kostomoarov (Микола Іванович Костомаров Николай Иванович Костомаров Nikolai Ivanovich Kostomarov) ( May Mykhailo Mykhailovych Kotsiubynsky (Михайло Михайлович Коцюбинський ( September 17 1864 – April 25 1913) Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (Тарáс Григóрович Шевчéнко ( &ndash) was a Ukrainian Poet, Artist and humanist. Ivan Yakovych Franko (Івáн Якович Франкó ( &ndash) was a Ukrainian poet writer social and literary critic journalist economist and political activist Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka (Лариса Петрівна Косач-Квітка ( &ndash) better known under her literary pseudonym Lesya Ukrainka (Леся Українка The literary Ukrainian language is based on the dialect of the Poltava region, with some heavy influence from the dialects spoken in the west, notably Galicia (Halychyna). Poltava (Полтава Połtawa is a City in central Ukraine. Galicia (Галичина ( Halychyna) Galicja is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, For most of its history, Russian letters were used for written Ukrainian (for example, by Shevchenko). The modern Ukrainian alphabet and orthography, which introduced the distinct letters і, ї, є, ґ, and modified the usage of и, was developed in the late nineteenth century in Austrian-controlled Galicia. The Ukrainian alphabet is the set of letters used to write Ukrainian, the official language of Ukraine.

Ukrainophone

A Ukrainophone is a person who speaks the Ukrainian language.

In the modern nation of Ukraine almost all people can speak Ukrainian. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. However, many people are also fluent in Russian as well. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages

Therefore the nation is sometimes divided into Ukrainophones and Russophones. See also Russophone (novel A Russophone (or russophone; русскоговорящий русскоязычный russkogovoryashchy In English these terms are used to indicate a person's language usage but not their ethnicity.

Current usage

The Ukrainian language is currently emerging from a long period of decline. Although there are almost fifty million ethnic Ukrainians worldwide, including 37. Ukrainians (Українці Ukrayintsi,) are an East Slavic Ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly— Citizens 5 million in Ukraine (77. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. 8% of the total population), only in western Ukraine is the Ukrainian language prevalent. In Kiev, both Ukrainian and Russian are spoken, a notable shift from the recent past when the city was primarily Russian speaking. Kiev, also known as Kyiv ( Ukrainian:, Kyiv, ˈkɪjiw Russian:, Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names) is the The shift is caused, largely, by an influx of the rural population and migrants from the western regions of Ukraine but also by some Kievans' turning to use the language they speak at home more widely in everyday matters. In northern and central Ukraine, Russian is the language of the urban population, while in rural areas Ukrainian is much more common. In the south and the east of Ukraine, Russian is prevalent even in rural areas, and in Crimea, Ukrainian is almost absent. Crimea (kraɪˈmiːə or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Крим Автономна Республіка Крим Avtonomna Respublika Krym; Крым

Use of the Ukrainian language in Ukraine can be expected to increase, as the rural population (still overwhelmingly Ukrainophone) migrates into the cities and the Ukrainian language enters into wider use in central Ukraine. The literary tradition of Ukrainian is also developing rapidly overcoming the consequences of the long period when its development was hindered by either direct suppression or simply the lack of the state encouragement policies.

Dialects

Main article: Ukrainian dialects

Several modern dialects of Ukrainian: exist^[17][18]

• Northern (Polissian) dialects:^[19]
  • Eastern Polissian is spoken in Chernihiv (excluding the southeastern districts), in the northern part of Sumy, and in the southeastern portion of the Kiev Oblast as well as in the adjacent areas of Russia, which include the southwestern part of the Bryansk Oblast (the area around Starodub), as well as in some places in the Kursk, Voronezh and Belgorod Oblasts. Ukrainian dialects A dialect is a territorial professional or social variant of a standard literary language A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of Chernihiv Oblast (Чернігівська область translit Sumy Oblast (Сумська область translit Sums’ka oblast’; also referred to as Sumshchyna - Сумщина is an oblast Kiev Oblast, also written as Kyiv Oblast (Київська область translit Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Bryansk Oblast (Бря́нская о́бласть Bryanskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) For the eponymous town see Starodub-on-the-Klyazma Starodub (Староду́б lit Kursk Oblast (Ку́рская о́бласть Kurskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) Voronezh Oblast (Воро́нежская о́бласть Voronezhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) Belgorod Oblast (Белгоро́дская о́бласть Belgorodskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) ^[20] No linguistic border can be defined. The vocabulary approaches Russian as the language approaches the Russian Federation. Both Ukrainian and Russian grammar sets can be applied to this dialect. Thus, this dialect can be considered a transitional dialect between Ukrainian and Russian. ^[21]
  • Central Polissian is spoken in the northwestern part of the Kiev Oblast, in the northern part of Zhytomyr and the northeastern part of the Rivne Oblast. Kiev Oblast, also written as Kyiv Oblast (Київська область translit Zhytomyr Oblast (Житомирська область translit Rivne Oblast (Рівненська область translit Rivnens’ka oblast’; also referred to as Rivnenshchyna - Рівненщина ^[22]
  • West Polissian is spoken in the northern part of the Volyn Oblast, the northwestern part of the Rivne Oblast as well as in the adjacent districts of the Brest Voblast in Belarus. Volyn Oblast (Волинська область translit Volyns’ka oblast’; also referred to as Volyn’) is an oblast (province in north-western Rivne Oblast (Рівненська область translit Rivnens’ka oblast’; also referred to as Rivnenshchyna - Рівненщина Brest Voblast (Province or Brest Oblast (Брэ́сцкая во́бласць Brestskaya voblasts; Бре́стская о́бласть Brestskaya Oblast Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east The dialect spoken in Belarus uses Belarusian grammar, and thus is considered by some to be a dialect of Belarusian. ^[23]
• Southeastern dialects:^[24]
  • Middle Dnieprian is the basis of the Standard Literary Ukrainian. A standard language (also standard dialect, standardized dialect, or standardised dialect) is a particular variety of a Language that It is spoken in the central part of Ukraine, primarily in the southern and eastern part of the Kiev Oblast). Kiev Oblast, also written as Kyiv Oblast (Київська область translit In addition, the dialects spoken in Cherkasy, Poltava and Kiev regions are considered to be close to "standard" Ukrainian. Cherkasy Oblast (Черкаська область translit Cherkas’ka oblast’; also referred to as Cherkashchyna - Черкащина Poltava Oblast (Полтавська область translit Poltavs’ka oblast’; also referred to as Poltavshchyna - Полтавщина Kiev Oblast, also written as Kyiv Oblast (Київська область translit
  • Slobodan is spoken in Kharkiv, Sumy, Luhansk, and the northern part of Donetsk, as well as in the Voronezh and Belgorod regions of Russia. Kharkiv Oblast (Харківська область translit Kharkivs’ka oblast’; also referred to as Kharkivshchyna - Харківщина Sumy Oblast (Сумська область translit Sums’ka oblast’; also referred to as Sumshchyna - Сумщина is an oblast Luhansk Oblast (Луганська область translit Luhans’ka oblast’, Луганская область translit Donetsk Oblast (Донецька область Donets’ka oblast’; also referred to as Donechchyna — Донеччина is an oblast (province Voronezh Oblast (Воро́нежская о́бласть Voronezhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) Belgorod Oblast (Белгоро́дская о́бласть Belgorodskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an Oblast) ^[25] This dialect is formed from a gradual mixture of Russian and Ukrainian, with progressively more Russian in the northern and eastern parts of the region. Thus, there is no linguistic border between Russian and Ukrainian, and, thus, both grammar sets can be applied. This dialect is a transitional dialect between Ukrainian and Russian. ^[26]
  • A Steppe dialect is spoken in southern and southeastern Ukraine. This dialect was originally the main language of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. The Zaporozhian Cossacks (Запорожці Zaporozhtsi,were Cossacks who lived in Zaporizhia, in Central Ukraine ^[27]
  • A Kuban dialect related to the Steppe dialect often referred to as Balachka is spoken by the Kuban Cossacks in the Kuban region in Russia, by the descendants of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who settled in that area in the late eighteenth century. Balachka ( Russian and Ukrainian: балачка is a term used to label the present dialects spoken by Cossacks in Russia Kuban Cossacks (Кубанские кaзаки Kubanskiye Kаzaki) are Cossacks who live in the Kuban region of Russia. Kuban ( Кубáнь) is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe The Zaporozhian Cossacks (Запорожці Zaporozhtsi,were Cossacks who lived in Zaporizhia, in Central Ukraine It was formed from gradual mixture of Russian and Ukrainian. This dialect features the use of Russian vocabulary along with Russian grammar. ^[28] There are 3 main variants according to location. ^[29]
• Southwestern dialects:^[30]
  • Boyko is spoken by the Boyko people on the northern side of the Carpathian Mountains in the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblasts. The Boykos or Boikos are a distinctive group of Ukrainian Carpathian Montagnards of the Carpathian highlands Lviv Oblast (Львівська область translit L’vivs’ka oblast’; also referred to as L’vivshchyna - Львівщина Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (Івано-Франківська область translit It can also be heard across the border in the Subcarpathian Voivodship of Poland
  • Hutsul is spoken by the Hutsul people on the northern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, in the extreme southern parts of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, as well as in parts of the Chernivtsi and Transcarpathian Oblasts, . Subcarpathian Voivodeship (also known as Podkarpacie Province or by its Polish name of województwo podkarpackie or simply Podkarpackie) is a Hutsuls (Гуцули singular Гуцул Romanian: Huţuli, singular Huţul, Hutsul dialect Hutsule, singular Hutsul; alternatively Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (Івано-Франківська область translit Chernivtsi Oblast (Чернівецька область translit Zakarpattia Oblast (Закарпатська область translit
  • Lemko is spoken by the Lemko people, whose homeland rests outside the borders of Ukraine in the Prešov Region of Slovakia along the southern side of the Carpathian Mountains, and in the southeast of modern Poland, along the northern sides of the Carpathians. Lemkos (Лeмки Lemko: Лeмкы translit Lemky; sing Лeмкo Lemko) one of several quantitatively and territorially small nationalities Lemkivshchyna sometimes called Lemkovyna Lemkivshchyna or Łemkowszczyzna, is the region traditionally inhabited by the Lemkos ( Lemki) The Prešov Region (in Slovak Prešovský Kraj) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million
  • Podillian is spoken in the southern parts of the Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi Oblasts, in the northern part of the Odessa Oblast, and in the adjacent districts of the Cherkasy Oblast, the Kirovohrad Oblast and the Mykolaiv Oblast. Vinnytsia Oblast (Вінницька область translit Vinnyts’ka oblast’; also referred to as Vinnychchyna - Вінниччина Khmelnytskyi Oblast (Хмельницька область translit Odessa Oblast, also written as Odesa Oblast (Одеська область translit Cherkasy Oblast (Черкаська область translit Cherkas’ka oblast’; also referred to as Cherkashchyna - Черкащина Kirovohrad Oblast (Кіровоградська область translit Mykolaiv Oblast (Миколаївська область translit ^[31]
  • Volynian is spoken in Rivne and Volyn, as well as in parts of Zhytomyr and Ternopil. Rivne Oblast (Рівненська область translit Rivnens’ka oblast’; also referred to as Rivnenshchyna - Рівненщина Volyn Oblast (Волинська область translit Volyns’ka oblast’; also referred to as Volyn’) is an oblast (province in north-western Zhytomyr Oblast (Житомирська область translit Ternopil Oblast (Тернопільська область translit It is also used in Chelm in Poland. Chełm (Холм Kholm) is a city in eastern Poland with 72595 inhabitants (2005 Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland
  • Pokuttia (Bukovynian) is spoken in the Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine. Chernivtsi Oblast (Чернівецька область translit This dialect has some distinct volcabulary borrowed from Romanian. Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance
  • Upper Dniestrian is considered to be the main Galician dialect, spoken in the Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblasts. Lviv Oblast (Львівська область translit L’vivs’ka oblast’; also referred to as L’vivshchyna - Львівщина Ternopil Oblast (Тернопільська область translit Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (Івано-Франківська область translit Its distinguishing characteristics are the influence of Polish and the German vocabulary, which is reminiscent of the Austro-Hungarian rule. Some of the distinct words used in this dialect can be found here. ^[32]
  • Upper Sannian is spoken in the border area between Ukraine and Poland in the San river valley.
• The Rusyn language is considered by Ukrainian linguists to be a dialect of Ukrainian:
  • Dolinian Rusyn or Subcarpathian Rusyn is spoken in the Transcarpathian Oblast. Rusyn (ry русинськый язык) is an East Slavic language (along with Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, with which it shares Zakarpattia Oblast (Закарпатська область translit
  • Pannonian or Bačka Rusyn is spoken in northwestern Serbia and eastern Croatia. Pannonian Rusyn or simply Rusyn ( Ruthenian ' is a Slavic language or Dialect spoken in north-western Serbia and eastern Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country Croatia (Hrvatska ˈxȓvatska officially the Republic of Croatia ( Republika Hrvatska) is a southern Central European country at the crossroads between Rusin language of the Bačka dialect is one of the official languages of the Serbian Autonomous Province of Vojvodina). Pannonian Rusyn or simply Rusyn ( Ruthenian ' is a Slavic language or Dialect spoken in north-western Serbia and eastern The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina ( Serbian: Аутономна Покрајина Војводина or Autonomna Pokrajina Vojvodina; Hungarian: Vajdaság
  • Pryashiv Rusyn is the Rusyn spoken in the Prešov (in Ukrainian: Pryashiv) region of Slovakia, as well as by some émigré communities, primarily in the United States of America. Prešov ( known also by alternative names) is a City in eastern Slovakia. Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million

Ukrainian is also spoken by a large émigré population, particularly in Canada (see Canadian Ukrainian), United States and several countries of South America like Argentina. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Canadian Ukrainian ( Ukrainian: украї́нська мо́ва, ukrayins'ka mova,) is a variety (considered also as a Dialect The United States of America —commonly referred to as the South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. The founders of this population primarily emigrated from Galicia, which used to be part of Austro-Hungary before World War I, and belonged to Poland between the World Wars. Galicia (Галичина ( Halychyna) Galicja is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland The language spoken by most of them is the Galician dialect of Ukrainian from the first half of the twentieth century. Compared with modern Ukrainian, the vocabulary of Ukrainians outside Ukraine reflects less influence of Russian, but often contains many loan words from the local language.

Ukrainian diaspora

Ukrainian is spoken by approximately 36,894,000 people in the world. Most of the countries where it is spoken are ex-USSR where many Ukrainians have migrated. The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent nations that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Canada and the United States are also home to a large Ukrainian population. Broken up by country (to the nearest thousand):^[33]

1. Ukraine 31,058,000
2. Russia 4,363,000 (1,815,000 according to the 2002 census)^[34]
3. Kazakhstan 898,000
4. United States 844,000
5. Moldova 600,000
6. Brazil 300,000 ^[35]
7. Belarus 291,000
8. Canada 200,525,^[36] 67,665 spoken at home^[37] in 2001, 148,000 spoken as "mother tongue" in 2006^[38]
9. Uzbekistan 153,000
10. Poland 150,000^[39]
11. Kyrgyzstan 109,000
12. Argentina 120,000
13. United Kingdom 100,000 (Fluent or conversational - see here)
14. Latvia 78,000
15. Spain 69,000
16. Portugal 65,800
17. Romania 57,600
18. Slovakia 55,000
19. Georgia 52,000
20. Lithuania 45,000
21. Tajikistan 41,000
22. Turkmenistan 37,000
23. Australia 30,000
24. Azerbaijan 29,000
25. Paraguay 26,000
26. Estonia 21,000
27. Armenia 8,000
28. Hungary 4,900 (according to the 2001 census)^[40]
29. Serbia 3,000

Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan ( Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, qɑzɑqˈstɑn Казахстан, Kazakhstán,) officially the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova ( Republica Moldova) is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( Uzbek: O‘zbekiston Respublikasi or Ўзбекистон Республикаси is a doubly Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Kyrgyzstan (ˈkɻ̩gɪztɑn (AmE or /'kɝgəztan/ (BrE Kyrgyz: Кыргызстан; Russian: Киргизия or Киргизстан or Кыргызстан For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Ukrainian migration to United Kingdom has been occurring since the eighteenth century Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million Georgia ( საქართველო, Sakartvelo) is a Transcontinental country in the Caucasus region situated at the dividing line between Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the Tajikistan (təˈdʒɪkɨstæn or /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/ Тоҷикистон tɔʤikɪsˈtɔn or, Persian تاجیکستان‎ taajikestaan officially the Republic of Turkmenistan ( Türkmenistan; also known as Turkmenia) is a Turkic country in Central Asia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Azerbaijan ( English; Azərbaycan officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan Respublikası is the largest and most populous country in the South Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay ( Spanish: República del Paraguay; Guaraní: Tetã Paraguái) is one of the only Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region Armenia (Հայաստան transliterated: Hayastan,) officially the Republic of Armenia (Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն Hayastani Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country The language is also one of three official languages of the breakaway Moldovan republic of Transnistria. Transnistria, also known as Trans-Dniester, Transdniestria, and Pridnestrovie (full name Pridnestrovian ^[41]

Ukrainian is also co-official, alongside Romanian, in ten communes in Suceava County, Romania (as well as Bistra in Maramureş County). Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance A commune ( comună in Romanian) is the lowest level of administrative subdivision in Romania Suceava (su'ʧava is a county ( Judeţ) of Romania, in the historical regions Moldova and Bukovina, with the capital city at Suceava Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania Bistra or Petrovabistra (Bistra Бистрий/Bystryi is a commune in Maramureş County, Romania. Maramureş (mara'mureʃ is a county ( Judeţ) of Romania, in the Maramureş region In these localities, Ukrainians, who are an officially-recognised ethnic minority in Romania, make up more than 20% of the population. Thus, according to Romania's minority rights law, education, signage and access to public administration and the justice system are provided in Ukrainian, alongside Romanian.

Language structure

Cyrillic letters in this article are romanized using scientific transliteration. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by In Linguistics, romanization (or latinization, also spelled romanisation or latinisation) is the representation of a Word or Scientific transliteration, also called the International Scholarly System, is a system for Transliteration of text from the Cyrillic to the Latin

Grammar

Further information: Ukrainian grammar

Old East Slavic (and Russian) o in closed syllables, that is, ending in a consonant, in many cases corresponds to a Ukrainian i, as in pod->pid (під, ‘under’). The Ukrainian language possesses an extremely rich grammatical structure inherited from Indo-European: Nouns have grammatical gender number and are declined Thus, in the declension of nouns, the o can re-appear as it is no longer located in a closed syllable, such as rik (рік, ‘year’) (nom): rotsi (loc) (році). The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other Locative (also called the seventh case) is a Grammatical case which indicates a location

Ukrainian case endings are somewhat different from Old East Slavic, and the vocabulary includes a large overlay of Polish terminology. Russian na pervom etaže ‘on the first floor’ is in the prepositional case. The Ukrainian corresponding expression is na peršomu poversi (на першому поверсі). -omu is the standard locative (prepositional) ending, but variants in -im are common in dialect and poetry, and allowed by the standards bodies. The kh of Ukrainian poverkh (поверх) has mutated into s under the influence of the soft vowel i (k is similarly mutable into c in final positions). Ukrainian is the only modern East Slavic language which preserves the vocative case. The vocative case is the case used for a Noun identifying the person (animal object etc

Sounds

Further information: Ukrainian phonology

The Ukrainian language has six vowels, /a/, /e/, /ɪ/, /i/, /o/, /u/, and two approximants /j/, /ʋ/. This article deals with the Phonology of the Ukrainian language.

A number of the consonants come in three forms: hard, soft (palatalized) and long, for example, /l/, /lʲ/, and /ll/ or /n/, /nʲ/, and /nn/. Palatalization or palatalisation (ˌpælətəlɨˈzeɪʃən generally refers to two phenomena As a process or the result of a process In Phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken Consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short Consonant.

The letter г represents different consonants in Old East Slavic and Ukrainian. In Articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a Speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper Vocal tract, the upper vocal Ukrainian г /ɦ/, often transliterated as Latin h, is the voiced equivalent of Old East Slavic х /x/. Voice or voicing is a term used in Phonetics and Phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless Kha, (Х х is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, representing the Voiceless velar fricative /x/ in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian The Russian (and Old East Slavic) letter г denotes /g/. Russian-speakers from Ukraine and Southern Russia often use the soft Ukrainian г, in place of the hard Old East Slavic one. The Ukrainian alphabet has the additional letter ґ, for representing /g/, which appears in some Ukrainian words such as gryndžoly (ґринджоли, ‘sleigh’) and gudzyk (ґудзик, ‘button’). Ge (Ґ ґ italic Ґґ) is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet mainly used in Ukrainian, representing the However, the letter ґ appears almost exclusively in loan words. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one Language from another with little or no translation This sound is still more rare in Ukrainian than in Czech or Slovak. Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the The Slovak language ( slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with Slovenščina) sometimes referred to as "Slovakian"

Another phonetic divergence between the two languages is the pronunciation of /v/ (Cyrillic в). Ve (В в is the third letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, representing the sound /v/ While in standard Russian it represents /v/, in Ukrainian it denotes both /v/ and /ʋ/ (at the end of a syllable—a labiodental approximant somewhat in between the v in victory and the w in water). The labiodental approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that Unlike Russian and most other modern Slavic languages, Ukrainian does not have final devoicing. Final obstruent devoicing or terminal devoicing is a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as German, Dutch, Polish

Alphabet

Main article: Ukrainian alphabet

The alphabet of the Ukrainian language consists of 33 letters and is derived from the Cyrillic writing system. The Ukrainian alphabet is the set of letters used to write Ukrainian, the official language of Ukraine. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by The modern Ukrainian alphabet is the result of a number of proposed alphabetic reforms from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in Ukraine under the Russian Empire, in Austrian Galicia, and later in Soviet Ukraine. A unified Ukrainian alphabet (the Skrypnykivka, after Mykola Skrypnyk) was officially established at a 1927 international Orthographic Conference in Kharkiv, during the period of Ukrainization in Soviet Ukraine. Mykola Oleksiyovych Skrypnyk (Микола Олексійович Скрипник January 25 [ O Kharkiv or Kharkov (Харків Харьков is the second largest city in Ukraine. Ukrainization (also spelled Ukrainisation or Ukrainianization) is a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language But the policy was reversed in the 1930s, and the Soviet Ukrainian orthography diverged from that used by the diaspora. The term Ukrainian diaspora refers to the global community of ethnic Ukrainians, usually more specifically those who maintain some kind of connection even if ephemeral The Ukrainian letter ge ґ was banned in the Soviet Union from 1933 until the period of Glasnost in 1990. Ge (Ґ ґ italic Ґґ) is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet mainly used in Ukrainian, representing the (Гла́сность)is literally defined as publicity and sometimes figuratively interpreted as "tipping a vase to let someone see into the vase but not the bottom of the vase" ^[42]

The alphabet comprises thirty-three letters, representing thirty-eight phonemes (meaningful units of sound), and an additional sign—the apostrophe. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU Ukrainian orthography is based on the phonemic principle, with one letter generally corresponding to one phoneme, although there are a number of exceptions. The orthography also has cases where the semantic, historical, and morphological principles are applied.

The letter щ represents two consonants [ʃʧ]. The combination of [j] with some of the vowels is also represented by a single letter ([ja]=я, [je]=є, [ji]=ї, [ju]=ю), while [jo]=йо and the rare regional [jɪ]=йи are written using two letters. These iotated vowel letters and a special soft sign change a preceding consonant from hard to soft. Iotation is a form of Palatalization which occurs in Slavic languages. The soft sign (Ь ь is a symbol in the Cyrillic alphabet. In the Old Slavic language, it represented a short -like vowel but in modern Slavic Cyrillic writing An apostrophe is used to indicate the hardness of the sound in the cases when normally the vowel would change the consonant to soft.

A letter is repeated to indicate that the sound is long.

The phonemes [ʣ] and [ʤ] do not have dedicated letters in the alphabet and are rendered with the digraphs дз and дж, respectively. A digraph, bigraph, or digram is a pair of characters used to write one Phoneme (distinct sound or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond [ʣ] is pronounced like English dz in adze, [ʤ] is like g in huge.

See also Drahomanivka, Ukrainian Latin alphabet. Drahomanivka was a proposed reform of the Ukrainian alphabet and orthography promoted by Mykhailo Drahomanov. A Latin alphabet for the Ukrainian language has been proposed or imposed several times in history but has never challenged the conventional Cyrillic Ukrainian alphabet.

See also

• Surzhyk
• Balachka
• Swadesh list of Ukrainian words
• Ukrainianization
• Korenizatsiya
• Russification

Notes

References

• Korunets', Ilko V. (2003). Contrastive Topology of the English and Ukrainian Languages. Vinnytsia: Nova Knyha Publishers,. ISBN 966-7890-27-9.  
• Lesyuk, Mykola "Різнотрактування історії української мови".
• Luckyj, George S.N. ([1956] 1990). George Stephen Nestor Luckyj ( 1919 - November 22, 2001) was a scholar of Ukrainian literature, who greatly contributed to the awareness of Ukrainian Literary Politics in the Soviet Ukraine, 1917–1934, revised and updated edition, Durham and London: Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-1099-6.
• Nimchuk, Vasyl’. Періодизація як напрямок дослідження генези та історії української мови. Мовознавство. 1997. - Ч. 6. -С. 3-14; 1998.
• Magocsi, Paul Robert (1996). Paul Robert Magocsi is a professor of History and Political science at the University of Toronto since 1980 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-0830-5.
• Pivtorak, Hryhoriy Petrovych (1998). Походження українців, росіян, білорусів та їхніх мов (The origin of Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians and their languages). Kiev: Akademia. Kiev, also known as Kyiv ( Ukrainian:, Kyiv, ˈkɪjiw Russian:, Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names) is the ISBN 966-580-082-5.  , (in Ukrainian). Available online.
• Shevelov, George Y. (1979). A Historical Phonology of the Ukrainian Language. . Heidelberg: Carl Winter Verlag. Heidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2006 over 140000 people live within the city's area ISBN 3-533-02787-2.  . Ukrainian translation is partially available online.
• Subtelny, Orest (1988). Orest Subtelny (b 1943 in Kraków) - is a Canadian Historian of Ukrainian descent Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,. ISBN 0-8020-5808-6.  
• "What language is spoken in Ukraine", in Welcome to Ukraine, 2003, 1.
• All-Ukrainian population census 2001
• Конституція України (Constitution of Ukraine) (in Ukrainian), 1996, English translation (excerpts).
• 1897 census

External links

• Ethnologue report for Ukrainian
• СЛОВНИК.НЕТ - A monolingual dictionary of modern Ukrainian
• Ukrainian language - the third official? - Ukrayinska Pravda, 28 November 2005
• English-Ukrainian Dictionary
• Ukrainian–English Dictionary
• Dialects of Ukrainian Language / Narzecza Jezyka Ukrainskiego by Wl.Kuraszkiewicz (Polish)
• Hammond's Racial map of Europe, 1919 (English) "National Alumni" 1920, vol. Ukrayinska Pravda ( Ukrainian: Українська правда literally Ukrainian Truth) is a popular Ukrainian internet Newspaper For the town in Argentina, see 28 de Noviembre. Events Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 7
• Ethnographic map of Europe 1914 (English)