Ukraine/The Ukraine

[anne marie devlin]

While there are of course differences between the case of the 6 counties (also a politically loaded phrase) and Ukraine, the common factor is the use of 'the' to denote part of something else.  My interest is not, however, in the grammatical correctness or not, but in the use and perception of the vairables. From a personal perspective, with regards my part of the world, I consciously use only one variant and it has a negative effect on me when I hear the other.  My data strongly indicate that v/na cause similar reactions.  Arguments abound online re: its use.  I can also draw your attention to the reaction of Oleksander Spirin on this list when he stated that it's Ukraine and it has been independent since 1991.To paraphrase your slogan, Paul, prepositions and articles don't determine who's right!AM

> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 12:05:04 -0400
> From: paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Ukraine/The Ukraine
> To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> 
> anne marie devlin wrote:
> 
> > 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.
> 
> The example you cite seems a clear one as far as it goes, but I'm not 
> sure it's an example of the same phenomenon. In both forms for the six 
> counties, the construction denotes a subset of a larger whole ("the 
> northern /part/ of Ireland"). Moreover, the use of the article is 
> automatically conditioned by the rest of the construction -- once he's 
> made the decision between "north of" and "northern," the speaker/writer 
> has no further options.
> 
> The same cannot be said of "(the) Ukraine," since there is no indication 
> of which is the part and which is the whole, and there is no grammatical 
> rule that would require the article; to the contrary, it's a bit odd to 
> see it with a proper name. We've built up a tolerance by hearing it so 
> many times over the years, but try it with some other proper names such 
> as "the France" or "the Algeria" and you'll see just how exceptional it is.
> 
> -- 
> 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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