language query

[Michael Burianyk]

On Thu, 3 Oct 1996, Genevra Gerhart wrote:

> Mr. Buryanyuk,
> Let's put it this way:  for a Russian, Ukrainian, by definition, is
> something else again.  For a Ukrainian, Russian is something else again.
> One is one thing and one is another.  Do not confuse issues by
> taking umbrage at terminology like "substandard,":  that is what they
> are to each other. Each language has its own standards, and,
> substandards. The world has  enough trouble without the insistence that
> one's own is godsent. gg

Please, let the linguists correct me if I'm wrong. 'Sub-standard' is not
a currently used term. Would it not, as was noted in a previous post, be
'non-standard usage'? 'Sub-standard' is a loaded term, in English anyway,
with a lot of negative connotations. And, how can something in Ukrainian
be considered 'sub-standard' or even 'non-standard' in Russian? As you
so eloquently pointed out, Ukrainian and Russian are different. A
Ukrainian grammatical structure, used in the context of Russian is a
calque, correct? Its a mistake - plain and simple. It isn't 'sub'-Russian
at all.

By the way, no flame intended. I really want to be corrected (by real
linguists) whether 'sub-standard' is proper terminology these days, and
whether my analysis above is wrong-headed or not. Despite my profession,
I have a real love of language and linguistics (especially slavic) and
my whole purpose to subscribing to this list is to learn something.

> PS:  Physics has the advantage of being less tainted by emotion.

You know little of Physics then ;-)


--
Michael Burianyk               Office: P534B Avahd-Bhatia Physics Lab
Seismology Laboratory          Phone : (403) 492 4128
Department of Physics          Fax   : (403) 492 0714
University of Alberta
Edmonton, CANADA T6G 2J1       e-mail: buri at phys.ualberta.ca