Classification and Relationship To Other Languages
The question of whether contemporary Ukrainian and Russian (as well as Belarusian and Rusyn) are dialects of a single language or separate languages is not entirely decided by linguistic factors alone because there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility. As members of the East Slavic group of languages, they are descended from a common ancestor. Although Ukrainian, Russian, and Belarusian are usually listed by linguists as separate languages, some linguistic references list them as dialects of a single language.
Within East Slavic, the Ukrainian language is most closely related to Belarusian.
It is accepted that before the 18th century the precursor to the modern literary Ukrainian language was a vernacular language used mostly by peasants and petits bourgeois as no traces of earlier literary works could be found. It existed along with Church Slavonic, a literary language of religion that evolved from the Old Slavonic and which was the language usually used in writing and communication.
Read more about this topic: Ukrainian Language
Famous quotes containing the words relationship and/or languages:
“We think of religion as the symbolic expression of our highest moral ideals; we think of magic as a crude aggregate of superstitions. Religious belief seems to become mere superstitious credulity if we admit any relationship with magic. On the other hand our anthropological and ethnographical material makes it extremely difficult to separate the two fields.”
—Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945)
“People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can’t pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They speak in languages we once classified as “exotic” but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)