Ukrainian language and history
Dette innlegget er også tilgjengelig i: Norsk bokmål Русский Українська
There are many misconceptions about the Ukrainian language. Some also mix terms, such as the Russian-speaking part of the population being Russians. I’ll try to clear up some of this. I will look at the history of the Ukrainian language and the differences between Ukrainian and Russian.
Descendants of ancient East Slavic
In the ancient Kyiv Empire, a language known as “Old East Slavic” was spoken. Ukrainian is a descendant of this language. Today, the Slavic language group is divided into three parts. East Slavic consists of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. The other two groups of Slavic languages are West and South Slavic.
Most languages are influenced by neighbouring languages. This is also Ukrainian. Ukrainian has more in common with Belarusian and Polish than with Russian.
The difference between the Russian and Ukrainian languages is greater than many people realise. The difference is actually greater than the difference in the Scandinavian languages, it is also greater than the difference between Spanish and Portuguese and greater than Spanish and Italian.
Impact of Ukrainian language
Throughout history, Ukraine has to some extent been a country that has been under the control of other countries. In the west of Poland and Lithuania. This is also reflected in the languages. The influence is clear and especially in the relationship between Poland and Ukrainian.
In the east, Ukraine has historically been largely under Russia. This has influenced the culture and language in the East more than the influence in the West. Even during the time when all of Ukraine was under Russian and Soviet control, the influence of Russian language and culture was stronger in the east. No wonder.
Russification of Ukraine
Russian and Soviet authorities carried out the Russification of Ukraine from 1709-1991. Russification consisted of several things, including a ban on the Ukrainian language, a ban on Ukrainian writing, no theatre performances in Ukrainian and no public or scientific publications. Nor are any Ukrainian-language newspapers allowed. An example of this part of Russification was a regulation in the 1870s.
The purpose of Russification was clear. The Ukrainian identity was to be erased. We see something of the same in other areas of Russia and the Soviet Union. Despite the ban on the language, Ukrainian lived on. Especially in the western regions.
Russification in the occupied territories
Since 2014, we have seen a renewed Russification of the annexed Crimea and the areas controlled by the Russian-backed separatists in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. Since Russia has taken control of new areas in the south and east of Ukraine after the attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022, we see the same in these areas. Ukrainian language is banned, all government publications are in Russian, as is teaching in schools.
The aim is to impose a different culture and language on a country and a people. The fact that Russian was the daily language of large parts of eastern Ukraine has little to do with the identity of its inhabitants. They are as much Ukrainians as anyone else. It is the external influence that has caused Russian colloquial speech to gradually take over from the Ukrainian language.
Russia claims that everyone who speaks Russian is Russian. We have heard this repeated several times before, during and after the invasion of Ukraine. Supposedly, it is to prevent the oppression of Russians that they started their full-scale war. No Russian-speaking Ukrainians I recognise recognise this so-called repression. It is meaningless to say that everyone who speaks Russian is Russian, it is as meaningless as saying that everyone who speaks Spanish is Spanish or everyone who speaks English is English.