Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 4 – The use of “v”
versus the use of “na” as a preposition about being “in Ukraine” has become so
politicized that many Russians view the use of the first as indicating that the
speaker backs Ukraine against Moscow while others see the use of the second as
showing that its user is virtually a Russian imperialist.
But as in all such things, the
reality is more complicated and has a most interesting history, something
pointed out by Irina Levontina, a specialist at the Institute of the Russian
Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview given to
Gordonua.com (gordonua.com/publications/Rossiyskiy-filolog-Levontina-Dazhe-Putin-ranshe-govoril-v-Ukraine-eto-pryamo-zaviselo-ot-uspeshnosti-peregovorov-po-gazu-113271.html).
Language
evolves all the time, and only rarely do its speakers recognize the change.
Thus, in Russian, “metro” became masculine although its ending would appear to
dictate another gender, and “v” as preposition of “in the Internet” displaced “na”
or “on the Internet” for almost all Russians except emigres. But “no one makes
anything dramatic out of that.”
However,
Levontina points out, with regard to the preposition to be used to designate “in”
Ukraine, the issue was “not simply raised to the level of principled heights
but politics interfered as well.” Indeed, not only do most people think that
the choice has a profound meaning, but they make jokes about it.
Her
favorite, she continues, the following: “’Yanukovich is put on the
international search list but up to now, it isn’t known where he is: “na”
Ukraine or “v” Ukraine.’”
Before
relations between Moscow and Kyiv soured, the Russian authorities asked
linguists whether it would be all right to use “v.” Then, “even Putin used the preposition ‘v.’” But
his use of it depended on the outcome of talks on gas. “If everything went
well, then it would be ‘v’ Ukraine; if badly, then ‘na.’” Because things went
badly, the latter became de rigueur.
More
than that, those who questioned the latter were viewed as engaged in “the
betrayal of [Russian] national interests,” and some even began to ask whether
those who took that position had Ukrainian roots somewhere in their
backgrounds.
Both
of course are possible. Taras Shevchenko used both; but by the 20th
century, “na” had become the norm in the Russian literary language. That reflects Muscovite usage, but
elsewhere, including in Ukraine, there are regional variants and in Kyiv
certainly “v” is thus correct. (She stresses she’s talking about Russian there and
not the separate Ukrainian language.)
Levontina
also discusses the evolution of meaning of three words from ones that designate
an enemy to proud self-evaluations. These are “vata,” “ukrop,” and “colorad.” The first has “a very interesting history in
which are manifested the normal laws of the semantic development of the word.”
“Vata”
and its derivative “vatnik” were first used as Ukrainian terms of abuse for the
stuffed coats those who blindly follow “Russian imperial consciousness” wear. But very quickly, she says, those who wore
this kind of coat took it on as a term in which they were proud. This
shift was special only in that it was so quick.
“A
less complicated but similar history occurred with ukrop,” she points out.
First, there was the abbreviation “ukr,” from which “ukrop” arose, first as a
Russian term of abuse for Ukrainians and then as a Ukrainian expression of
national pride. And “colorad” or beetle as a term for pro-Moscow Donbas forces
evolved in the same way.
Levontina concludes by expressing the hope
that current tensions between Russia and Ukraine and between Russians and
Ukrainians will be overcome and that the two will have “normal relations.
Politicians,” she says, “are insane; one can’t expect anything good from them.”
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