The Ukrainian language has been around for a long time. Like any other language, it has its own historical epochs, borrowings, and dialects. Now, many copies are being broken about its origin and development. Since the secession of Ukraine from the USSR, this issue has not left the arena of political debate. The self-name of the Ukrainian language is “mova”. What is language in the academic sense? How rich is its vocabulary? What are the origins?
The word "mova": Russian translation
Numerous dictionaries and phrasebooks are united in Ukrainian translation of the concept of "language":
- Ukrainian is a Ukrainian language.
- Russian language is Russian language.
- English is an English language.
- Belarusian is Belarusian language.
This is where the unanimity of the translators ends. What is language in the academic sense, from a scientific point of view, no one can say yet. First, the vocabulary of the language is unclear. Even the Galician dialect is an established dialect, which cannot be said about the Ukrainian language, which is still undergoing innovations.
What the dictionaries say
The Explanatory Dictionary of the Ukrainian language explains the meaning of the word mova in this way:
- Inherent human ability to make sounds to express thoughts, conscious speech.
- The composition of speech and the rules of use and pronunciation adopted in a certain society.
- The manner of speaking, dialect, style of speech.
- Conversation, conversation.
- Speech, speech, report.
- Figuratively, an expression of opinion.
- In programming - machine code language, algorithms.
There are many questions about the second point. The composition of speech for communication on the city street, in the rural outback, in government and cultural institutions does not have a single base.
From the textbook of the Ukrainian language
In modern Ukrainian pedagogy, great importance is attached to the study of the national literary language by students. By virtue of its recognition as a state language, the need to express thoughts not in the colloquial language, but in the language of Taras Shevchenko, became especially acute. This writer is considered the founder of a literate written Ukrainian language.
The textbook itself is called “the assistant of the Ukrainian literary movie”. That is, the word "mova" does not display the difference between the vocabulary of vernacular and literary expressions.
What is MOV? In the Russian language, such concepts as dialect, phraseological unit, vernacular, dialect, jargon, professionalism, vulgarism are distinguished. Spoken in Russian, such words are not classified ascorrect Russian. If we apply such tactics to the definition of language, we will see the same terms written in Ukrainian. Why is it customary to explain Ukrainian language in Russian? There are several reasons for this.
National speech is divided into two categories:
- The highest form (literature) is a new language formed by Kotlyarevsky in 1794 on the basis of the dialects of southern Russia and the deliberate distortion of some words for parodic purposes.
- Lower form (dialects). These are three large groups with divisions into several dialects.
Looks like Mova is a collection of dialects and a lot of borrowings due to poor vocabulary.
Move Borrowings
Each independent language is a living developing organism, generating offshoots, dialects, leaving literary monuments, having the ability to grow old and even die. What is language - language or dialect? Much depends on the answer to this question.
Learning a language is learning its roots. Both figuratively and literally. The roots of words tell much more about the origin of a nation than a story written by people. It is always interpreted in such a way as is beneficial at a given historical moment. And the roots of words do not lend themselves to such juggling.
If the ancient dialects of language originated from Indo-European, B alto-Lithuanian, Proto-Slavic words, it will be easy to prove to scientists specializing in such studies. What did they find out? Unfortunately, the move was not allowed to develop naturally. Perhaps this would lead to a small number of carriers in the modern world,but it would be a living language, which cannot but be harmonious and beautiful. The very concept of language as the language of the people is distorted.
Numerous borrowings of roots are confirmed by the following examples:
- Spouses on the move are called a man and a team. A person makes friends, a woman goes out. At the same time, the word "husband" does not exist in the Move, this is a borrowing from the Russian language.
- Second day of the week - second, repeat - repeat. But the word “second” is not in the move, there is “another”. The root is borrowed, prefixes and endings are Ukrainian. There is a semblance of a Ukrainian word, but the root is Russian. In fact, in the Slavic languages, this root is also found among the Bulgarians, Macedonians and Belarusians. The rest - Polish, Serbian, Slovenian, Slovak, Croatian - have the root "friend".
There are many such examples.
How the language evolved
A serious step in the development of the Ukrainian language was the creation in 1906 of the Ukrainian-Russian dictionary. It was called the Dictionary of Ukrainian Language until 1917, when it was renamed in the Polish manner into a dictionary. Its four volumes contain 68,000 words. Several sources and special studies were used to collect words, determine spelling, explain etymology.
This work has been recognized by philologists. It recorded a living language that people spoke. Some of the dialects mentioned in it are very narrowly used, but still found their place in the dictionary. Spelling Guidelinesthe Little Russian language was discussed at the level of the Academy of Sciences. Until 1997, the dictionary of Ukrainian language was repeatedly reprinted. Its value is still difficult to overestimate.
From the twenties of the last century, they began to teach the Ukrainian language. But Russian continued to be the language of communication, the city and the intelligentsia. After Ukraine gained independence as a state, the language began to actively develop, largely artificially. Some Russian words and roots are replaced, anglicisms are tracing. In addition, world globalization is taking place, which greatly affects the lexical composition of the whole world, not only Ukraine.
Conclusion
How the language of Ukraine will develop further, time will tell. So far, there is a significant stratification of vocabulary, which turns language into the language of professionalism: scientific, political, economic, and many others.
Ukrainization of the language is carried out too quickly to become natural. Along the way, mistakes, alterations, repeals of previous laws and the introduction of long-forgotten laws into circulation occur. It is a pity if, in order to simply communicate, people will resort to English words. It remains only to look at it philosophically.
