Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine Viktor Moisienko: "Signs that have become the norm of the Ukrainian language have been documented since the 11th century"

It is no news that Russia – just like the former Moscow Tsardom, Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and now the Russian Federation – has always appropriated the historical and cultural heritage of the peoples it has subjugated, including Ukrainians. For example, Russian linguistics, entirely in the spirit of Russian state propaganda, traditionally denies the distinctiveness of the Ukrainian and Russian languages, which is absolutely unscientific, and attributes to the Russian language a dating it cannot claim for objective reasons – simply because no written monuments from the corresponding period have been found. In contrast, the Ukrainian language truly has ancient roots – its history can be traced back at least to the 11th century. This is proven in the scientific works of the well-known Ukrainian linguist, professor of the Department of Ukrainian Language at Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University, lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (call sign "Professor"), corresponding member of the NAS of Ukraine, Viktor Moisienko. He spoke about the sources of research on the history of the Ukrainian language and other topics in an interview with the online newspaper “Dsnews,” prompted by the publication of the monograph "In the Beginning Was the Word... From Language Usage to Literary Norm. (An Outline of the Genesis of the Ukrainian Literary Language)," which Viktor Moisienko co-authored with his Polish colleague – professor at the University of Warsaw, director of the Institute of Intercultural Studies of Central and Eastern Europe, habilitated doctor Joanna Getka. “In the earliest written period in the East Slavic world, two language structures can be distinguished: Ukrainian or Rus-Ukrainian (this is the south of Rus, i.e., our lands) and Novgorod-Rus. There was probably also Belarusian, but it was not represented in writing until the late 11th–12th centuries,” explains Viktor Moisienko. “The [ancient Ukrainian] language, the dialect, undoubtedly existed earlier [before the 11th century]. How much earlier is unknown. However, the written history of the Ukrainian language begins from the mid-11th century – features are evidenced in church-religious books written in Church Slavonic of the Ukrainian recension. <…> Such features appear from the 11th century, so how can one claim that the Rusyn-Ukrainians spoke some ‘common language’? <…> Why was all this so veiled by this ‘common’ language? Because in Muscovy, until the 14th century, nothing was written at all. Our book with Joanna Getka demonstrates that already in the 11th century the spoken language was Ukrainian. Later, more such features appear, they break through into the Church Slavonic sphere, the Peresopnytsia Gospel appears – consciously translated by Ukrainian priests from the Old Bulgarian text. From the ‘Bulgarian language into the Rus language.’ Rus language, that is Ukrainian – sensible people do not confuse it, as Russian Slavists taught Putin. Of course, Ukrainian in the 16th and 21st centuries is different, which is inherent in all languages. But this thread of continuity is unbroken. We have traced it from the 11th to the 14th century. The next stage is to trace it all the way to the present. Then we will have a complete picture of the history of the Ukrainian literary language.” According to the scholar, the war became another incentive for him to complete the joint linguistic-historical research with Joanna Getka: “…in the monuments of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, there is plenty of evidence that allows, so to speak, to realize the Ukrainian linguistic past in those times. However, the situation with monuments of earlier periods is completely different. For the vast amount of writing of Rus from the 11th–13th centuries, for every monument written at that time in Kyiv, Galicia, Volhynia, there are a hundred studies by Russian scholars. And at least one from Ukrainians. And even that, if they lived abroad, because in Soviet times it was not allowed to study such monuments specifically as Ukrainian. For example, in the 1970s, it was impossible to deny that until the 14th century there was a language common to all East Slavs – Old Rus. Likewise, Church Slavonic at that time was not Ukrainian but the ‘Russian’ or ‘Common East Slavic’ recension. <…> We had the stereotype that Russian Slavic studies were so powerful that their authors were chosen as honorary professors of European universities. Then I found myself with the guys in the trenches and saw how the ‘russkiye’ fertilize our Ukrainian black soil in Kupiansk region or Zaporizhzhia. But that brainless, I mean Russians, who came to our land, they did not go to war on their own. They were told to. And who told them? Putin. And who told Putin? On what did he base his article that Ukrainians do not exist, that there is one territory, one state, one people? I am deeply convinced that these conclusions were based on the works of prominent Russian academic linguists. The very ones who studied the linguistic past of Rus. However, the war showed that decisions cannot be based on lies. And my colleague [Joanna Getka] was radically determined to destroy the myth of a common linguistic history of Rus. It is extremely important that the book was published by one of the most prestigious European university presses. Otherwise, the Muscovites would start mocking: ‘Look, Ukrainians are raging again, they cannot be taken seriously.’ The book, by the way, is in two languages – Polish and Ukrainian. But I would like Russians to read it – we have extracted from written monuments of the 11th–14th centuries probably up to a thousand examples of specifically Ukrainian linguistic features.” At the end of the conversation, Viktor Moisienko spoke about language during the war and at war: “…after the full-scale invasion, some people consciously switched to Ukrainian, some switch to Ukrainian from time to time, depending on the situation. In the army, no one speaks Russian in official communication. Formations, speeches before the ranks – I have not heard anyone speak Russian, even if the officer or soldier is Russian-speaking. In everyday life, people speak as they wish, but I do not know a single case when someone declared that they would speak Russian on principle. Of course, because of the war, the linguistic portrait of Ukrainians will change, certain words have already acquired new meanings. For example, if you say ‘ptashka’ (bird) somewhere in Kupiansk region, near Vovchansk or Zaporizhzhia, soldiers will start looking for cover. Because ‘ptashka’ is no longer perceived as a swallow or sparrow.” FULL TEXT OF THE INTERVIEW