This week, the Ukrainian playwright Polina Polozhentseva writes about the tribulations of being a Russian-speaking Ukrainian. "Initially, I wrote in Russian about the Russian invasion of Ukraine!"
My father (who came to England in 1948) peppered his Ukrainian with English words. Those of us born and brought up here peppered our English with Ukrainian words. It’s a new language we called Uklish! Now the Ukrainians settled in Richmond (North Yorkshire) have created Ukrushlish. Everyone understands and nobody blinks an eye!
Linguistic salad is a known everyday phenomenon for us who live amid multiple cultures (and just use words, in whichever language that comes first). It's interesting to read your frank exposition of the Russian/Ukrainian language conflict- I've been leary of querying my Ukrainian friends here in Norway, some of whom are Russian speakers, if there is interpersonal conflict exacerbated by the war, stemming from language use.
After the Maidan Revolution was propelled over the top by the terrorist fascist C-14 gang, pro-Russian members of the Ukrainian parliament were terrorized into staying home, and the firstvthing the rump parliament did was pass a law banning Russian in government business (in a country where about half the population were native Russian speakers). The new post-Maiden regime rewarded the terrorists by making the far-right political boss Arsen Avakov the new Interior Minister, in charge of the police who now enforced the bigoted anti-Russian ban. This led to widespread resistance throughout the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine, with Crimea and then the Donbass republics breaking away. However, resistance was crushed in Kharkiv, and then the infamous Odessa Barbecue (burning toe protestors alive) further terrorized the Ukrainian people.
And paid western propagandists bleat about fweeedom and democwacy in Ukraine, as the IMF insists that Ukraine keep on fighting as a condition for sustaining its unpayable debt, and the NATO countries (who collectively have voting control at the IMF) keep funneling in just enough support to keep Ukraine from collapsing, in a contrived endless bloodbath.
Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting for us non-Ukrainians. Maybe I should suggest Polina to do a piece on those 'languages'...
Best,
Michael
My father (who came to England in 1948) peppered his Ukrainian with English words. Those of us born and brought up here peppered our English with Ukrainian words. It’s a new language we called Uklish! Now the Ukrainians settled in Richmond (North Yorkshire) have created Ukrushlish. Everyone understands and nobody blinks an eye!
Linguistic salad is a known everyday phenomenon for us who live amid multiple cultures (and just use words, in whichever language that comes first). It's interesting to read your frank exposition of the Russian/Ukrainian language conflict- I've been leary of querying my Ukrainian friends here in Norway, some of whom are Russian speakers, if there is interpersonal conflict exacerbated by the war, stemming from language use.
After the Maidan Revolution was propelled over the top by the terrorist fascist C-14 gang, pro-Russian members of the Ukrainian parliament were terrorized into staying home, and the firstvthing the rump parliament did was pass a law banning Russian in government business (in a country where about half the population were native Russian speakers). The new post-Maiden regime rewarded the terrorists by making the far-right political boss Arsen Avakov the new Interior Minister, in charge of the police who now enforced the bigoted anti-Russian ban. This led to widespread resistance throughout the Russian-speaking part of Ukraine, with Crimea and then the Donbass republics breaking away. However, resistance was crushed in Kharkiv, and then the infamous Odessa Barbecue (burning toe protestors alive) further terrorized the Ukrainian people.
And paid western propagandists bleat about fweeedom and democwacy in Ukraine, as the IMF insists that Ukraine keep on fighting as a condition for sustaining its unpayable debt, and the NATO countries (who collectively have voting control at the IMF) keep funneling in just enough support to keep Ukraine from collapsing, in a contrived endless bloodbath.