V Sibiri and V Krimu

[Edward M Dumanis]

On Tue, 21 Dec 2004, Martin Votruba wrote:

> ... _v_ sovetskoj Ukraine, _v_ Zakarpatskoj Ukraine (but na
> pravobereznoj Ukraine)

I do not know why you would say that. I'd say "v pravoberezhnoj Ukraine."

I want to say also that, from my point of view, it is not the language
that follows the rules, but we create the rules that simplify our own
description of the language as a system. It seems to me that instead of
taking the language "as is," some people prefer to impose the norms that
follow not from the usage, but from the rules they themselves created.
It just turns everything upside down.

Taras Shevchenko used "na" with "Ukraine"  when he wrote his famous lines:
Yak umru, to pohovajte
Mene na mogili,
Sered stepu shirokogo,
Na Vkrajine miloj.

So, why is it bad when Russians use "na" in the same context? Could this
be just a ukrainism in the Russian language? We can build different
theories, but we should not prescribe any sly intentions to the native
speakers of the language, and insist that they should use it in a certain
manner. It can only open the Pandora's box of some other demands, e.g.,
Russians might demand to remove some words from Ukrainian public usage
which sound vulgar in Russian (of course, it would hardly happen looking
at the level of vulgarities used publicly in Russia nowadays). If you find
it ridiculous, so do I.

Sincerely,

Edward Dumanis <dumanis at buffalo.edu>

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