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Buryakova
Yuliya Vasylivna,Voinarovs'ka Natalia Victorivna
Vinnitsia Institute of Trade and Econcmics of
Kyiv National University of Trade and Econcmics,
Ukraine
Origin of Ukrainian –
our mother language
Language is form
of our life, cultural and national life; it is form of our organization.
Language is the soul of every nationality; it’s the most valuable treasure. Our
old and new culture is reflected in our language. We live so long as our
language lives.
Ukrainian is a member of the East Slavic
subgroup of the Slavic
languages. It is the official
state language of Ukraine and
the principal language of the Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic
script. The
standard Ukrainian language is regulated by the National
Academy of Sciences of Ukraine particularly
by its Institute for
the Ukrainian Language, Ukrainian language-informational fund, and Potebnya
Institute of Language Studies. Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian, and Rusyn have a high degree of mutual
intelligibility.
A point of view developed during the 19th and 20th
centuries by linguists of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union. Like Lomonosov,
they assumed the existence of a common language spoken by East Slavs in the
past. 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. This general point of view is the most
accepted amongst academics world-wide, particularly outside Ukraine. The
supporters of this theory disagree, however, about the time when the
different languages were formed [1].
Soviet scholars set the divergence between Ukrainian
and Russian only at later time periods. According to this view, Old East Slavic
diverged into Belarusian and Ukrainian to the west and Old Russian to the north-east, after the political boundaries of Kiev Russ were redrawn
in the 14th century. During the time of the incorporation of Ruthenia into
the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth, Ukrainian and Belarusian diverged
into identifiably separate languages.
Close Slavic contacts with the remnants of Scythian and Sarmatian population north of the Black Sea, lasting into the early Middle
Ages, is explained the appearance of voiced fricative γ(h) in modern
Ukrainian and some southern Russian dialects, that initially emerged in Scythian and the related eastern Iranian dialects from earlier common Proto-Indo-European .Ukrainian traces its roots through the mid-14th century Ruthenian
language, a chancellery language of the Grand Duchy
of Lithuania, back to the early written
evidences of 10th century Rus'. Until the end of the 18th century, the written language used in
Ukraine was quite different from the spoken, which is one of the key
difficulties in tracing the origin of the Ukrainian language more precisely.
There is little direct data on the origin of the Ukrainian language. Scholars
rely on indirect methods: analysis of typical mistakes in old manuscripts,
comparison of linguistic data with historical, anthropological, archaeological
ones, etc. Several theories of the origin of Ukrainian language exist. Some
early theories have been proven wrong by modern linguistics, while others are
still being discussed in the academic community.
It is believed that up to the 14th century, ancestors
of the modern Ukrainians spoke dialects of the language known collectively as
Old East Slavic, also spoken by other East Slavs of Kiev Rus. That mainly spoken tongue was used alongside Old Church
Slavonic, the literary language of all Slavs
[2].
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 Rus. Surviving documents from the Kiev Russ period are written in either Old
East Slavic or Old Church
Slavonic language or their mixture. Different earldoms of
Russ had different dialects of Old East Slavic. These languages are
considerably different from both modern Ukrainian and Russian, but similar
enough that a modern educated Ukrainian or Russian reader can understand
11th-century texts reasonably well.
During the 13th century, when German settlers were
invited to Ukraine by the princes of Galicia-Vollhynia, German words began to
appear in the language spoken in Ukraine. Their influence would continue
under Poland not only through German colonists but also through the
Yiddish-speaking Jews. Often such words involve trade or handicrafts. Examples
of words of German or Yiddish origin spoken in Ukraine include dakh (roof), rura (pipe), rynok (market), kushnir (furrier),
and majster (master or craftsman).
Ukrainian is written using a Cyrillic alphabet which
looks fundamentally different to the English alphabet.One of the most
remarkable aspects of the Ukrainian language is the fact that it exists at all
in the modern world. It has been banned and discouraged several times by
non-Ukrainian regimes, but always maintained its existence somehow, even by
using informal methods of keeping the tongue alive, such as songs, folklore,
and Ivan Kotlyarevsky’s Eneyida, which was the first book to be published in
Ukrainian and has become a classic [3].
Over time things changed again and by the 17th century
translators had to be employed in order for Ukrainians and Russians to
understand one another. This shift can be attributed, partly at least, to
Polish influence in Ukraine. Lots of tradesmen were native Polish speakers and
brought not only their language but their faith to the Ukraine. Ukraine’s
gradual move towards Catholicism had an effect on many areas of the language.
The Soviet era lasted for seven decades, and during this time the Ukrainian
language held the formal position of the principal local language in the
Ukrainian SSR. However, it has been suggested that this official title did not
mean very much in practice, as Ukrainians always had to compete with Russians,
and the attitudes of the Soviet leadership towards Ukrainian varied from
encouragement and tolerance to discouragement and, at times, suppression.
During times of suppression national identity was something which was
considered a privilege rather than a right, and it was a privilege Ukraine was
willing to fight for. The people of Ukraine fought to keep their language
alive, and so even during the most difficult and violent times, the Ukrainian
language was protected.
Today the Ukraine is an independent nation, and since
1991, Ukrainian has been the only official state language. There have been
conscious efforts and initiatives taken to implement government policies to
broaden the use of Ukrainian. 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. In areas such as the media and
commerce the government has sought to promote Ukrainian as the dominant
language since the fall of the Soviet Union. The tensions between Ukrainian and
Russian have been by no means totally eradicated, and for the foreseeable
future friction will probably remain, but what is important is the conscious
effort in the Ukraine to promote the Ukrainian language. The progress thus far
has been remarkable as now most residents, including ethnic Russians, people of
mixed origin, and Russian-speaking Ukrainians have started to identify
themselves as Ukrainian nationals, even though the problem remains of the
population still being largely Russian speaking .
The Ukrainian
language traces its origins to the Old East Slavic language of early medieval
state of Kiev Rus. In its earlier stages it was called Ruthenian. The language
has persisted despite several periods of bans and/or discouragement throughout
centuries as it has always nevertheless maintained a sufficient base among the
people of Ukraine, its folklore songs, itinerant musicians, and prominent
authors.
References
1.
Korunets'
Ilko V. Contrastive Topology of the
English and Ukrainian Languages. Vinnytsia: Nova Knyha Publishers, ISBN 966-7890-27-9., - 2003
2.
Ukrainians' long
wait for prosperity: BBC News, - 2010.