textbook recommendation

[William Ryan]

The two recent objectors to my message about the use of the English definite
article in the name of the Ukraine have overreacted and apparently not read
very carefully what I said.
    I speak as a longtime and fervent believer in the cultural independence of
the Ukraine and Belarus, with a good many friends of both nationalities, and
happy memories of a visit to the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard. I am
happy that those two lands have now achieved political independence (more or
less) and am on record in several places as pointing out that the view of
‘Russia’ as a continuum stretching from Kiev Rus’ to the USSR , as it appears
in most Great Russian (and quite a lot of Western) historiography, is
erroneous.
    As I understand it from the press, the demand for removal of the English
definite article came in fact from the Ukrainian foreign ministry. I can only
imagine that they took this strange step as a result of representations from
North American activists, since it can hardly matter much to them at home. Are
North American Ukrainian nationalists like North American Irish nationalists,
i.e. much more 'patriotic' than their counterparts back home (I speak as an
occasional Irishman)?
    The point I thought I had made is that the use of the definite article in
English (and French, e.g. ‘La France’ and German, e.g. ‘die Schweiz’) is not
thought to be offensive in other placename contexts and in fact cannot by
itself be offensive, as the analogues demonstrate, e.g. the Dutch do not object
to ‘The Netherlands’ (and are tolerant even of our sloppy and incorrect use of
‘Holland’). English speakers neither intend to offend nor perceive any grounds
for offence in the use of the definite article - 'The Ukraine' it is simply the
name which we have always used. And since neither Russian nor Ukrainian have
articles the alleged offensive connotation cannot arise in those languages
either.
    The fact is that the English definite article cannot in any way suggest
subordination to Russia (which I gather is the reason for all this) - but the
word ‘Ukraina’ certainly does suggest a peripheral status. It is therefore
illogical to ban the use of the semantically blameless English article while
keeping the semantically loaded noun. A new state name (my suggestion of Kiev
Rus', though light-hearted, was not entirely frivolous) would solve that
problem, although it would leave anglophone writers still with a problem of
appropriate usage in writing in historical and geographical contexts before the
adoption of the new state name - an awkwardness which has already arisen in the
case of Belarus, where the appropriateness of ‘Belarusian’ in medieval contexts
is very dubious.
    As a member of a minority in another multiracial community, I do not have
to be told that the terminology of race is a subtle, often illogical, and fast
changing area which has to be handled sensitively. But this is NOT about
terminology of race - place names are not at all the same thing, the problems
of usage are different, particularly in historical writing, and are subject to
different pressures. If the perceived offence lies in the use of the definite
article and nothing else then presumably this must apply to every language
which has a definite article. Perhaps other participants in SEELANGS could let
us know if the Germans are now also obliged to remove the article from ‘die
Ukraine’ and the French from ‘l’Ukraine’? In French in particular the definite
article is widely used with names of countries; to leave them out would sound
very odd and ungrammatical - has the Academie Francaise expressed an opinion?
In fact, is what is perceived as politically correct in some US circles to be
imposed as linguistically correct not only on the whole English-speaking world
but also on all other countries as well? Now that really is culturally
offensive!
Will Ryan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Professor W. F. Ryan, MA DPhil FBA FSA
Warburg Institute (School of Advanced Study, University of London)
Woburn Square, LONDON WC1H 0AB
tel: 020 7862-8940 [direct line]; from outside UK dial +44 20 7862 8940.
fax: 020 7862-8939; from outside UK dial +44 20 7862 8940.
The Warburg Institute's main switchboard number is 020 7862-8949
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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