82-652: The Unification Act ( Ukrainian : Акт Злуки , romanized : Akt Zluky , IPA: [ˈɑkt ˈzlukɪ] ; or Велика Злука , Velyka Zluka , IPA: [ˈwɛlɪkɐ ˈzlukɐ] ) was an agreement signed by the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic in St Sophia Square in Kyiv on 22 January 1919. Since 1999, it is celebrated every year as
164-518: A Presidential Decree "regarding the resolution of the issues of Ukrainian historical territories" now under Russian control beyond Ukraine's (international recognized) official borders; like the Kuban , Belgorod and Rostov Oblasts . These territories were claimed by the Ukrainian People's Republic government (1917–1921) and who before Holodomor and the Russification efforts of the 1930s of
246-498: A body of national literature, institute a Ukrainian-language educational system, and form an independent state (the Ukrainian People's Republic , shortly joined by the West Ukrainian People's Republic ). During this brief independent statehood the stature and use of Ukrainian greatly improved. In the Russian Empire Census of 1897 the following picture emerged, with Ukrainian being the second most spoken language of
328-592: A closer lexical distance to West Slavic Polish and South Slavic Bulgarian . Ukrainian is a descendant of Old East Slavic , a language spoken in the medieval state of Kievan Rus' . In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the language developed into Ruthenian , where it became an official language, before a process of Polonization began in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . By the 18th century, Ruthenian diverged into regional variants, and
410-693: A decision was made to unilaterally repeal the Act of Unification. However Ukraine was unable to gain independence and in December 1920 the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union was established comprising most of the territory of the Ukrainian People's Republic. The territories of the West Ukrainian People's Republic became mostly part of Poland. In 1939 the territories of both became part of
492-460: A government holiday, celebrated every year on 22 January to mark the political and historical significance of the 1919 agreement. It is not a public holiday. In December 2011, President Viktor Yanukovych caused public controversy when he merged the "Day of Freedom" into this day, naming it officially the "Day of Unity and Freedom of Ukraine" (Ukrainian: День Соборності та Свободи України , Den' Sobornosti ta Svobody Ukrayiny ). The "Day of Freedom"
574-818: A gradual change of the Old East Slavic vowel system into the system found in modern Ukrainian began approximately in the 12th/13th century (that is, still at the time of the Kievan Rus') with a lengthening and raising of the Old East Slavic mid vowels e and o when followed by a consonant and a weak yer vowel that would eventually disappear completely, for example Old East Slavic котъ /kɔtə/ > Ukrainian кіт /kit/ 'cat' (via transitional stages such as /koˑtə̆/, /kuˑt(ə̆)/, /kyˑt/ or similar) or Old East Slavic печь /pʲɛtʃʲə/ > Ukrainian піч /pitʃ/ 'oven' (via transitional stages such as /pʲeˑtʃʲə̆/, /pʲiˑtʃʲ/ or similar). This raising and other phonological developments of
656-648: A policy of defending Ukraine's interests within the Soviet Union. 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 tenure, for being too lenient on Ukrainian nationalism. The new party boss from 1972 to 1989, Volodymyr Shcherbytsky , purged the local party, was fierce in suppressing dissent, and insisted Russian be spoken at all official functions, even at local levels. His policy of Russification
738-565: A result of close Slavic contacts with the remnants of the Scythian and Sarmatian population north of the Black Sea , lasting into the early Middle Ages , the appearance of the voiced fricative γ/г (romanized "h"), in modern Ukrainian and some southern Russian dialects is explained by the assumption that it initially emerged in Scythian and related eastern Iranian dialects, from earlier common Proto-Indo-European *g and *gʰ . During
820-644: A self-aware Ukrainian nation would threaten the unity of the empire. In 1804 Ukrainian as a subject and language of instruction was banned from schools. In 1811, by order of the Russian government, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was closed. In 1847 the Brotherhood of St Cyril and Methodius was terminated. The same year Taras Shevchenko was arrested, exiled for ten years, and banned for political reasons from writing and painting. In 1862 Pavlo Chubynsky
902-890: A variant name of the Little Russian language . In a private letter from 1854, Taras Shevchenko lauds "our splendid Ukrainian language". Valuyev's decree from 1863 derides the "Little Russian" language throughout, but also mentions "the so-called Ukrainian language" once. In Galicia, the earliest applications of the term Ukrainian to the language were in the hyphenated names Ukrainian-Ruthenian (1866, by Paulin Święcicki ) or Ruthenian-Ukrainian (1871, by Panteleimon Kulish and Ivan Puluj ), with non-hyphenated Ukrainian language appearing shortly thereafter (in 1878, by Mykhailo Drahomanov ). A following ban on Ukrainian books led to Alexander II 's secret Ems Ukaz , which prohibited publication and importation of most Ukrainian-language books, public performances and lectures, and even banned
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#1732772456872984-646: Is based on the character of contemporary written sources, ultimately reflecting socio-historical developments, and he further subdivides the Middle period into three phases: Ukraine annually marks the Day of Ukrainian Writing and Language on 9 November, the Eastern Orthodox feast day of Nestor the Chronicler . The era of Kievan Rus' ( c. 880–1240) is the subject of some linguistic controversy, as
1066-615: Is the first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians . Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet , a variant of the Cyrillic script . The standard language is studied by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Potebnia Institute of Linguistics . Comparisons are often made between Ukrainian and Russian , another East Slavic language, yet there is more mutual intelligibility with Belarusian , and
1148-589: The Day of Unity of Ukraine to commemorate the signing of the treaty; it is a state holiday in Ukraine ; though not a public holiday. On January 22 ( O.S. January 9), 1918, the Central Council of Ukraine , with its Fourth Universal , proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic an independent, sovereign state of the Ukrainian people . On 1 December 1918, a pre-accession agreement on the further unification of
1230-501: The Euromaidan -protests that started on 21 November 2013. In a 22 January 2021 Facebook post on the occasion of the 102nd Unity of Ukraine Day celebrating the 1919 symbolic unification of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian People's Republic , the pro-Russian former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov claimed that instead, the 1939 Soviet annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia should be recognized as
1312-723: The Latin language. Much of the influence of Poland on the development of the Ukrainian language has been attributed to this period and is reflected in multiple words and constructions used in everyday Ukrainian speech that were taken from Polish or Latin. Examples of Polish words adopted from this period include zavzhdy (always; taken from old Polish word zawżdy ) and obitsiaty (to promise; taken from Polish obiecać ) and from Latin (via Polish) raptom (suddenly) and meta (aim or goal). Significant contact with Tatars and Turks resulted in many Turkic words, particularly those involving military matters and steppe industry, being adopted into
1394-569: The Novgorod Republic did not call themselves Rus ' until the 14th century; earlier Novgorodians reserved the term Rus ' for the Kiev , Pereyaslavl and Chernigov principalities. At the same time as evidenced by contemporary chronicles, the ruling princes and kings of Galicia–Volhynia and Kiev called themselves "people of Rus ' " (in foreign sources called " Ruthenians "), and Galicia–Volhynia has alternately been called
1476-553: The Soviet Union hosted huge Ukrainian populations . According to the decree Ukraine should strive "to preserve the national identity of Ukrainians" in these regions of Russia . Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( українська мова , ukrainska mova , IPA: [ʊkrɐˈjinʲsʲkɐ ˈmɔʋɐ] ) is one of the East Slavic languages in the Indo-European languages family, and it is spoken primarily in Ukraine . It
1558-454: The law of Ukraine "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" was approved by the parliament, formalizing rules governing the usage of the language and introducing penalties for violations. The literary Ukrainian language, which was preceded by Old East Slavic literature, may be subdivided into two stages: during the 12th to 18th centuries what in Ukraine
1640-495: The universal made by the Directorate of the Ukrainian People's Republic: The territory of Ukraine, divided over the centuries, including Galicia, Bukovina , Carpathian Ruthenia , and Dnieper Ukraine will now become a great united Ukraine. Dreams, for which the best sons of Ukraine fought and died for, have come true. According to the treaty Halychyna would become an autonomous part of Ukraine. The Act of Unification
1722-425: The 11th–12th century, but started becoming more similar to them around the 13th–15th centuries. The modern Russian language hence developed from the fusion of this Novgorod dialect and the common dialect spoken by the other Kievan Rus', whereas the modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages developed from dialects which did not differ from each other in a significant way. Ukrainian linguist Stepan Smal-Stotsky denies
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#17327724568721804-456: The 13th century, eastern parts of Rus (including Moscow) came under Tatar rule until their unification under the Tsardom of Muscovy , whereas the south-western areas (including Kyiv ) were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . For the following four centuries, the languages of the two regions evolved in relative isolation from each other. Direct written evidence of the existence of
1886-680: The 13th century, when German settlers were invited to Ukraine by the princes of the Kingdom of Ruthenia, 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"). In
1968-606: The Cossack motherland, Ukrajina , as a self-appellation for the nation of Ukrainians, and Ukrajins'ka mova for the language. 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
2050-714: The Halychynian delegation, government officials with the chairman of the Council of Ministers Volodymyr Chekhivskyi , delegates of the Labor Congress , representatives of the National Union , the highest civil and military dignitaries, foreign diplomats take their places. At twelve, to the solemn sounds of bells from the Mazepa bell tower and other churches, and the sound of guns from Pechersk , clergy entered
2132-606: The Labor Congress began its work. The first item on the agenda was the adoption of the Act of Unity, and as a sign of complete consent, deputies rose from their seats, applauding. The agreement was aimed at creating a unified Ukrainian state, a movement long-awaited by the intelligentsia on both sides. However, the Act Zluky was regarded as purely symbolic in that both governments still retained their own separate armies, administrations and government structure. The text of
2214-811: The National Anthem. The most solemn moment of the holiday was coming. The act of unification began with a greeting from the representative of the Ukrainian National Council, the chairman of the Galician delegation Lev Bachynsky, and Lonhyn Tsehelsky read out the statement of the Presidium of the Ukrainian National Council and the State Secretariat on the freedom of the ZUNR to unite into one united Ukrainian state. This statement
2296-549: The Orthodox church spoke Ruthenian. The 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement between Cossack Hetmanate and Alexis of Russia divided Ukraine between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia. During the following century, both monarchies became increasingly intolerant of Ukrainian own cultural and political aspirations. Ukrainians found themselves in a colonial situation. The Russian centre adopted
2378-574: The Polish nobility. Many Ukrainian nobles learned the Polish language and converted to Catholicism during that period in order to maintain their lofty aristocratic position. Lower classes were less affected because literacy was common only in the upper class and clergy. The latter were also under significant Polish pressure after the Union with the Catholic Church . Most of the educational system
2460-542: The Principality or Kingdom of Ruthenia. Also according to Andrey Zaliznyak, the Novgorodian dialect differed significantly from that of other dialects of Kievan Rus during the 11th–12th century, but started becoming more similar to them around 13th–15th centuries. The modern Russian language hence developed from the fusion of this Novgorodian dialect and the common dialect spoken by the other Kievan Rus, whereas
2542-620: The Russian Empire. According to the Imperial census's terminology, the Russian language ( Русскій ) was subdivided into Ukrainian (Малорусскій, ' Little Russian '), what is known as Russian today (Великорусскій, ' Great Russian '), and Belarusian (Бѣлорусскій, 'White Russian'). The following table shows the distribution of settlement by native language ( "по родному языку" ) in 1897 in Russian Empire governorates ( guberniyas ) that had more than 100,000 Ukrainian speakers. Although in
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2624-460: The Soviet Union and a special term, "a language of inter-ethnic communication", was coined to denote its status. 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 at the local and republic level, though its results in Ukraine did not go nearly as far as those of
2706-519: The Soviet policy of Ukrainianization in the 1920s. Journals and encyclopedic publications advanced in the Ukrainian language during the Khrushchev era, as well as transfer of Crimea under Ukrainian SSR jurisdiction. 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
2788-551: The USSR, meant that non-Russian languages would slowly give way to Russian in light of the pressures of survival and advancement. 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
2870-570: The Ukrainian People's Republic On behalf of the Ukrainian People's Republic: The directorate notifies the Ukrainian people about the great event in the history of our Ukrainian land. On 3 January 1919, in Stanislaviv city, the Ukrainian National Council of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, expressing the will of all Ukrainians of the former Austrian Empire and acting as their highest legislator, solemnly proclaimed
2952-628: The Ukrainian SSR. The unification action of 1919 left a deep mark in the historical memory of the Ukrainian people. This was evidenced by the January events of 1939 in Carpatho-Ukraine . To mark the 71st anniversary of the signing of the Act Zluky in 1990, over 300,000 Ukrainians created a human chain (approx. 482 km (300 mi) long) from the capital Kyiv to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on 21 January 1990. The chain,
3034-564: The Ukrainian language dates to the late 16th century. By the 16th century, a peculiar official language formed: a mixture of the liturgical standardised language of Old Church Slavonic , Ruthenian and Polish . The influence of the latter gradually increased relative to the former two, as the nobility and rural large-landowning class, known as the szlachta , was largely Polish-speaking. Documents soon took on many Polish characteristics superimposed on Ruthenian phonetics. Polish–Lithuanian rule and education also involved significant exposure to
3116-415: The Ukrainian language held the formal position of the principal local language in the Ukrainian SSR . 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 de facto banishment. Officially, there was no state language in the Soviet Union until the very end when it
3198-465: The Ukrainian language. Examples include torba (bag) and tyutyun (tobacco). Because of the substantial number of loanwords from Polish, German, Czech and Latin, early modern vernacular Ukrainian ( prosta mova , " simple speech ") had more lexical similarity with West Slavic languages than with Russian or Church Slavonic. By the mid-17th century, the linguistic divergence between the Ukrainian and Russian languages had become so significant that there
3280-409: 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 the 1970s and 1980s. According to this view, it
3362-415: The ancient coats of arms of Eastern Ukraine and Halychyna . Coats of arms of almost all Ukrainian provinces and posters are placed on the pillars all over the square. At eleven o'clock in the morning, Ukrainian infantry units, artillery, and machine gun crews began to march to the sounds of music, taking place on all four sides of the square. Following the army, a large number of people gathered and filled
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3444-566: The balconies of the houses. Sofia Square and neighboring streets are especially beautifully decorated. Among them are the house where the central telegraph office is located and the house of the Kyiv Provincial Zemstvo . Here on the balconies are portraits and busts of Taras Shevchenko , decorated with national ribbons, as well as flags. On the Triumphal Arch at the entrance from Volodymyrska Street to Sophia Square are
3526-565: The ceremony, the first to appear were railway employees with a large banner that read: "Glory to Ukrainian Heroes!" Afterwards, delegations from ministries and other institutions arrived, and there were processions from all Kyiv churches. The clergy gathered in St. Sophia Cathedral for the Divine Liturgy. It was ruled by the Bishop of Cherkasy Nazariy. The square was getting tighter. Members of
3608-464: The chancellery and gradually evolved into the Ruthenian language. Polish rule, which came later, was accompanied by a more assimilationist policy. 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 cultural Polonization and visible attempts to colonize Ukraine by
3690-568: The creation of a single and independent UPR. On the same day, in a solemn atmosphere, it was announced on Sophia Square in Kyiv . Eyewitnesses testified about the course of events in Kyiv, to which Levko Lukasevych refers in his book On the Slope of Age: It is a frosty day, the trees are covered with frost. From the morning the city has a festive look. National flags and banners everywhere. Carpets and canvases with bright Ukrainian drawings are hung on
3772-680: The day Ukraine gained "the real unity of Ukraine". According to Azarov "many Ukrainians, do not know these facts, because now the Soviet period of Ukraine is smeared with black paint, and Bandera is glorified and glorified." Azarov also claimed that prior to 1939 Western Ukraine became part of the USSR "there was no industry or social infrastructure. And look at what has been created in Western Ukraine for several decades of independence." On Unity Day 2024 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed
3854-401: The entire square and neighboring streets. Many of those present climbed the trees to see the action from there. The placement of delegations in places and the whole ceremony of the holiday was headed by the actor Mykola Sadovsky . Soon in front of the troops stood new ranks of students, who came accompanied by teachers with national flags and posters. Of the numerous delegations that arrived at
3936-407: The existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past. Similar points of view were shared by Yevhen Tymchenko , Vsevolod Hantsov , Olena Kurylo , Ivan Ohienko and others. 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 Ukrainian language
4018-687: The impulse of their own might, Ukrainians now have the chance to build up an independent and undivided Ukrainian nation all for the good and happiness of all the people of Ukraine. Kyiv, 22 January 1919 For the Directorate: (SGD) Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Chairman of the Directorate of Ukraine On 21 January 1999, the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma decreed the creation of the holiday "Unity of Ukraine Day" (Ukrainian: День Соборності України , romanized: Den Sobornosti Ukrainy ),
4100-417: The language of much of the literature was purely or heavily Old Church Slavonic . Some theorists see an early Ukrainian stage in language development here, calling it Old Ruthenian; others term this era Old East Slavic . Russian theorists tend to amalgamate Rus' to the modern nation of Russia, and call this linguistic era Old Russian. However, according to Russian linguist Andrey Zaliznyak (2012), people from
4182-759: The largest public demonstration in Ukraine since the beginning of Glasnost , was funded by the People's Movement of Ukraine ( Rukh ) and was partly inspired by the Baltic Way which had taken place the previous year. For the first time since the period of the Ukrainian People's Republic, the blue and yellow national flag was raised. Symon Petliura , Volodymyr Vynnychenko , Chairman of the Directorate, Fedir Shvets , Panas Andriievskyi [ uk ] . Vasyl Stefanyk (leader), Lonhyn Tsehelskyi , Dmytro Levytskyi , Andrii Shmhigelskyi [ uk ] , Tymotei Starukh [ uk ] . Directorate of
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#17327724568724264-694: The leadership of the Novorossiya region of the Armed Forces of Southern Russia , and the treaty was ratified in Vinnytsia on 19 November, after which it was implemented. On 2 December 1919, representatives of the Ukrainian People's Republic and Poland signed a draft declaration in Warsaw, according to which the Ukrainian People's Republic gave Poland Chełm Land , Polissia , Podlachia , Western Volhynia , and Eastern Halychyna . On 4 December 1919,
4346-462: The modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages developed from the dialects which did not differ from each other in a significant way. After the fall of the Kingdom of Ruthenia, Ukrainians mainly fell under the rule of Lithuania and then Poland . Local autonomy of both rule and language was a marked feature of Lithuanian rule. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Old East Slavic became the language of
4428-431: The modern Ukrainian language developed in the territory of present-day Ukraine. Russification saw the Ukrainian language banned as a subject from schools and as a language of instruction in the Russian Empire , and continued in various ways in the Soviet Union . Even so, the language continued to see use throughout the country, and remained particularly strong in Western Ukraine . Specific developments that led to
4510-443: The name Little Russia for Ukraine and Little Russian for the language, an expression that originated in Byzantine Greek and may originally have meant "old, original, fundamental Russia", and had been in use since the 14th century. Ukrainian high culture went into a long period of steady decline. The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was taken over by the Russian Empire. Most of the remaining Ukrainian schools also switched to Polish or Russian in
4592-412: The native language for the majority in the nation on the eve of Ukrainian independence, a significant share of ethnic Ukrainians were russified. In Donetsk there were no Ukrainian language schools and in Kyiv only a quarter of children went to Ukrainian language schools. The Russian language was the dominant vehicle, not just of government function, but of the media, commerce, and modernity itself. This
4674-419: The official diplomatic delegation of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (S. Vytvytskyi, A. Horbachevskyi, M. Novakivskyi) announced to the UPR Embassy in Warsaw and the Government of the Republic of Poland that the Western Ukrainian People's Republic UPR with the Polish government. On 20 December 1919, the authorized dictator Yevhen Petrushevych convened a meeting of the ZUNR government in Vienna , at which
4756-459: The parts of the once united Ukraine, which were separated for centuries — the Western Ukrainian National Republic / Halychyna, Bukovyna and Hungarian Ukraine / and the great Dnieper Ukraine — have become one nation. The centuries-long dreams that the best sons of Ukraine lived with and died for have thus finally come true. From now on, the Ukrainian People's Republic is present, existing unified and independent. And from today onwards, liberated by
4838-425: The population said Ukrainian was their native language. Until the 1920s the urban population in Ukraine grew faster than the number of Ukrainian speakers. This implies that there was a (relative) decline in the use of Ukrainian language. For example, in Kyiv, the number of people stating that Ukrainian was their native language declined from 30.3% in 1874 to 16.6% in 1917. During the seven-decade-long Soviet era ,
4920-456: The present-day reflex is /ɣ/. Ahatanhel Krymsky and Aleksey Shakhmatov assumed the existence of the common spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times. According to their point of view, the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century. Russian linguist Andrey Zaliznyak stated that the Old Novgorod dialect differed significantly from that of other dialects of Kievan Rus' during
5002-418: The printing of Ukrainian texts accompanying musical scores. A period of leniency after 1905 was followed by another strict ban in 1914, which also affected Russian-occupied Galicia. For much of the 19th century the Austrian authorities demonstrated some preference for Polish culture, but the Ukrainians were relatively free to partake in their own cultural pursuits in Halychyna and Bukovina , where Ukrainian
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#17327724568725084-409: The rural regions of the Ukrainian provinces, 80% of the inhabitants said that Ukrainian was their native language in the Census of 1897 (for which the results are given above), in the urban regions only 32.5% of the population claimed Ukrainian as their native language. For example, in Odesa (then part of the Russian Empire), at the time the largest city in the territory of current Ukraine, only 5.6% of
5166-475: The sixteenth and first half of the 17th century, when Ukraine was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, albeit in spite of being part of the PLC, not as a result. Among many schools established in that time, the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium (the predecessor of the modern Kyiv-Mohyla Academy ), founded by the Orthodox Metropolitan Peter Mogila , was the most important. At that time languages were associated more with religions: Catholics spoke Polish, and members of
5248-444: The square and took place around the lectern with banners in front of the St. Sophia Cathedral . In the church procession, Archbishop Agapit of Ekaterinoslav and bishops: George of Minsk , Ambrose of Vinnytsia , Nazarius of Cherkasy , Vasily of Kaniv , Dmitry of Uman . In the silence that flared up for a minute, calls "Glory!" were heard from afar in honor of the members of the Directory who drove up in cars. A military band plays
5330-462: The term native language may not necessarily associate with the language they use more frequently. The overwhelming majority of ethnic Ukrainians consider the Ukrainian language native , including those who often speak Russian. According to the official 2001 census data, 92.3% of Kyiv region population responded "Ukrainian" to the native language ( ridna mova ) census question, compared with 88.4% in 1989, and 7.2% responded "Russian". In 2019,
5412-558: The territories controlled by these respective countries, which was followed by a new wave of Polonization and Russification of the native nobility. 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. During the 19th century, a revival of Ukrainian self-identification manifested in the literary classes of both Russian-Empire Dnieper Ukraine and Austrian Galicia . The Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius in Kyiv applied an old word for
5494-434: The time, such as the merger of the Old East Slavic vowel phonemes и /i/ and ы /ɨ/ into the specifically Ukrainian phoneme /ɪ ~ e/, spelled with и (in the 13th/14th centuries), and the fricativisation of the Old East Slavic consonant г /g/, probably first to /ɣ/ (in the 13th century), with /ɦ/ as a reflex in Modern Ukrainian, did not happen in Russian. Only the fricativisation of Old East Slavic г /g/ occurred in Belarusian, where
5576-404: The two republics into a single state was concluded between the Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) in Fastiv . On 3 January 1919, the parliament of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic in Stanislaviv ratified it and sent a delegation to negotiate with the UPR government, and on 22 January 1919, the UPR Directory issued a universal declaring
5658-458: The unification of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic with the Dnieper Ukrainian People's Republic to become a unified single sovereign people's republic . Greeting this historic step of our western brothers with great joy, the Directorate of the Ukrainian People's Republic decided to accept that unification and to implement it on the terms specified in the Resolution of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic dated 3 January 1919. From now on,
5740-516: 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. The government has also mandated a progressively increased role for Ukrainian in the media and commerce. In the 2001 census , 67.5% of the country's population named Ukrainian as their native language (a 2.8% increase from 1989), while 29.6% named Russian (a 3.2% decrease). For many Ukrainians (of various ethnic origins),
5822-469: Was a need for translators during negotiations for the Treaty of Pereyaslav , between Bohdan Khmelnytsky , head of the Zaporozhian Host , and the Russian state. By the 18th century, Ruthenian had diverged into regional variants, developing into the modern Belarusian , Rusyn , and Ukrainian languages. The accepted chronology of Ukrainian divides the language into Old Ukrainian, Middle Ukrainian, and Modern Ukrainian. Shevelov explains that much of this
5904-497: Was created in 2005 by President Viktor Yushchenko, Yanukovych's opponent, to be celebrated on 22 November in commemoration of the Orange Revolution . President Yanukovych stated he changed the day of celebration because of "numerous appeals from the public". Mid-October 2014 President Petro Poroshenko undid Yanukovych's merging when he decreed that 21 November will be celebrated as "Day of Dignity and Freedom" in honour of
5986-696: Was de-facto denounced after representatives of the Galician Army unilaterally signed the Zyatkivtsi Agreement with the Volunteer Army on 6 November 1919, without taking into account the opinion of the UPR government. The agreement on the cessation of hostilities put the Galician army at the disposal of General Denikin . These agreements were re-approved in Odesa on 17 November 1919, with
6068-556: Was exiled for seven years to Arkhangelsk . The Ukrainian magazine Osnova was discontinued. In 1863, the 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". Although the name of Ukraine is known since 1187, it was not applied to the language until the mid-19th century. The linguonym Ukrainian language appears in Yakub Holovatsky 's book from 1849, listed there as
6150-448: 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 supported by George Shevelov 's phonological studies, which argue that specific features were already recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic (seen as ancestors to Ukrainian) as far back as these varieties can be documented. As
6232-471: Was gradually Polonized. In Ruthenia, the language of administrative documents gradually shifted towards Polish. Polish has had heavy influences on Ukrainian (particularly in Western Ukraine ). The southwestern Ukrainian dialects are transitional to Polish. As the Ukrainian language developed further, some borrowings from Tatar and Turkish occurred. Ukrainian culture and language flourished in
6314-562: 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. The number of students in Russian-language in Ukraine schools was constantly increasing, from 14 percent in 1939 to more than 30 percent in 1962. The Communist Party leader from 1963 to 1972, Petro Shelest , pursued
6396-490: Was lessened only slightly after 1985. The management of dissent by the local Ukrainian Communist Party was more fierce and thorough than in other parts of the Soviet Union. As a result, at the start of the Mikhail Gorbachev reforms perebudova and hlasnist’ (Ukrainian for perestroika and glasnost ), Ukraine under Shcherbytsky was slower to liberalize than Russia itself. Although Ukrainian still remained
6478-486: Was proclaimed in 1990 that Russian language was the all-Union state language and that the constituent republics had rights to declare additional state languages within their jurisdictions. 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. However, Russian was used as the lingua franca in all parts of
6560-675: Was received by all participants with long-term applause. The Chairman of the Directory Volodymyr Vynnychenko spoke, and Professor Fedir Shvets delivered the text of the Universal of Unity. After that, Archbishop Agapit performed a prayer service with the clergy in the intentions of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian state. A military parade of the Galician legion of the Sich Riflemen , commanded by Colonel Yevhen Konovalets , took place. The next day,
6642-400: Was substantially less the case for western Ukraine, which escaped the artificial famine , Great Purge , and most of Stalinism . And this region became the center of a hearty, if only partial, renaissance of the Ukrainian language during independence. Since 1991, Ukrainian has been the official state language in Ukraine, and the state administration implemented government policies to broaden
6724-547: Was widely used in education and official documents. The suppression by Russia hampered the literary development of the Ukrainian language in Dnipro Ukraine, but there was a constant exchange with Halychyna, and many works were published under Austria and smuggled to the east. By the time of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of Austro-Hungary in 1918, Ukrainians were ready to openly develop
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