Kozak/Cossack language, 2

[Natalia Pylypiuk]

(cont.)

(3) The kozak Samiilo Velychko (1620-1728), who worked in the  
chancellery of Vasyl' Kochubei, left us a monumental, three volume  
chronicle, titled "Skazaniie o voini kosatskoi z poliakamy, cherez  
Zinovia Bohdana Khmelnytskoho ... v osmi litekh tochyvshaiasia,"
This work is a critical response to the versified narrative, Wojna  
domowa z Kozaki i Tatary,  by the Polish writer Samuel Twardowski, and  
various other Kozak chronicles.  For a glimpse into Velychko's  
language, visit:
<http://litopys.org.ua/old18/old18_33.htm>
In the introduction to the second volume, which is not available on  
the internet, Velychko refers to his country as Ukraina-Malorosiiska  
or Kozatska Ukraina, and sometimes uses the modifiers Kozako-Ukrainska  
Malorosiiska.  He also refers to his people as "narod nash Kozako  
Ruskii."  Velychko's language differs somewhat from the Ruthenian  
spoken in mid-seventeenth century. It reflects the dialect of left- 
bank Ukraine after more than fifty years of its severance from the  
Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.  On aspects of this chronicle, see  
Marko Pavlyshyn, "Writings in Ukraine and European Identity,"  Themes  
and Variations in Slavic Languages and Cultures, ed. by David N. Wells  
(2008) pp. 1-22
< http://www.cerc.unimelb.edu.au/anzsa/MSK%20volume.pdf>

I can cite countless other examples of writings by and for the  
Kozaky / Cossacks of Ukraine.  Instead, I will refer you to:
Serhii Plokhy, The Cossacks and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine  
(Oxford University Press, 2001),
Frank Sysyn, "Recovering the Ancient and Recent Past: The Shaping of  
Memory and Identity in Early Modern Ukraine,"
Eighteenth-Century Studies - Volume 35, Number 1, Fall 2001, pp. 77-84

Plokhy's book and Sysyn's article are not devoted to language issues,  
but do shed considerable light on the culture of Kozaky / Cossacks.

I will leave 19th c. texts for another discussion.

Now let me cite something I witnessed in the winter of 1990, when I  
was conducting research in Kyiv.  An ensemble of Kuban' Kozaky /  
Cossacks was on tour, and performed at the prestigious Polytechnical  
Institute.  The auditorium was completely full. Most of the songs they  
sang were in Ukrainian, albeit slightly Russified.  Among the songs  
they sang, there was one about hetman Doroshenko (1621).  And, much to  
my surprise, they concluded the concert by singing the national anthem  
of Ukraine, "Shche ne vmerla Ukraïna."  The audience stood up and sang  
with them.  This was before Ukraine's declaration of independence.

Since then, ensembles from the Kuban' have regularly attended the  
annual folk festivals that take place in Ukraine.  However, in the  
summer of 2008, the Russian government forbade all performers from the  
Kuban'  to travel abroad. Thus, there were no "kubans'ki kozaky" at  
the Rivne festival.

Regards,

Natalia Pylypiuk
(University of Alberta)

p.s. I will return to the Volodymyr / Vladimir thread after correcting  
exams.





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