Ukraine/The Ukraine

[anne marie devlin]

I am from Belfast, north of Ireland, and the name given to that little part of the world is a hugely divisive. It is used by speakers to index a political/national identity and - although, as mentioned in a previous post, Britain, nor indeed Ireland has the equivalent of an academie francaise - language policies do exist and prescribe use in official domains.
The (non) use of the definite article is most certainly used to imply sovereignty or lack of. For example, referring to it as the north of Ireland suggests that it is a geographical region of the sovereign country of Ireland and therefore not part of Britain; whereas the term Northern Ireland is generally used by those who believe it to be a separate state from the rest of Ireland.  So I do understand why Ukrainians want the change. 
Incidentally, according to Krivoruchko (2008), the v/na question is a banned topic on some Russian language social media sites.
AM

> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 04:15:17 -0400
> From: paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Ukraine/The Ukraine
> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> 
> Michele A Berdy wrote:
> 
> > The question is, if they can tell us how to speak English, can we
> > tell them how to speak Ukrainian?
> >
> > You probably meant to write: If they can ask us to use a form that
> > is, in their view, more respectful, can we ask them the same? I guess
> > so. Why not? If someone asks me to call her Ms., I don't call her
> > Miss; if someone asks me not to call him a Gypsy, I call him Roma; if
> > someone prefers to be called an African-American instead of a Negro,
> > I comply. I don't have to, but why would I want to offend someone?
> 
> Requests for respect are reasonable, and I agree with your response; 
> it's the policy I try to follow.
> 
> > (Never in a million years will I get why this is a big deal.)
> 
> Because somehow some Ukrainians took it into their heads that the use of 
> the article marks their country as a colony, not a real country, that 
> it's a sign of disrespect.
> 
> As a native speaker of English, I never knew that. The first I heard of 
> it was when the Ukrainians started complaining. Things may be different 
> on the other side of the pond, but over here, no disrespect is intended 
> or perceived.
> 
> -- 
> War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
> --
> Paul B. Gallagher
> pbg translations, inc.
> "Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
> http://pbg-translations.com
> 
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