Surzhyk (Ukrainian and Russian: , , ) is a mixture between the Ukrainian and Russian languages, used in certain regions of Ukraine and the neighboring regions of Russia and Moldova. The phenomenon of surzhyk is commonly interpreted as an application of Russian-language words and idioms in combination with Ukrainian speech, which makes it essentially a heavily Russified version of colloquial Ukrainian, although the opposite process can also take place.
The vocabulary mix of each of its constituent languages (Ukrainian and Russian) varies greatly from locality to locality, or sometimes even from person to person, depending on the degree of education, personal experience, rural or urban residence, the geographical origin of the interlocutors, etc. The percentage of Russian words and phonetic influences tends to be greatest in the east and south and in the vicinity of big Russian-speaking cities. It is commonly spoken in most of eastern Ukraine's rural areas, with the exception of the large metropolitan areas of Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk, where the majority of the population uses standard Russian. In rural areas of western Ukraine, the language spoken contains fewer Russian elements than in central and eastern Ukraine, as historically Russian was not the prestige language in those areas. Nonetheless western dialects of Ukrainian have also been influenced by Russian.Bilaniuk, Laada (2004-12-01). "A Typology of Surzhyk: Mixed Ukrainian-Russian Language Forms". International Journal of Bilingualism 8 (4): 409–425. doi:10.1177/13670069040080040301.
Etymology and terminology The term surzhyk (Ukrainian: суржик) comes from the Proto-Slavic roots *sǫ- ("with," "together") and *rъžь ("rye"). Historically, the word referred to the grain product consisting of a mixture of different grains (such as wheat and rye) or the flour and bread produced from such a blend. In its original sense, it meant a lack of purity or a "half-breed" grain, which provided the metaphorical basis for its modern sociolinguistic use. While the term is sometimes associated in popular talk with the word "surrogate" (as in a "surrogate of Ukrainian and Russian"), linguists generally classify this as a folk etymology. This modern association likely reflects the social stigma and perceived "artificiality" of the language rather than its legitimate linguistic origin. The transition from an agricultural term to a label for language contact began as the blending of Ukrainian and Russian features became a prominent feature of the regional linguistic landscape of a Russian influenced Ukraine.Melnychuk, Oleksandr S. (2006-01-01). "Surzhyk". Etymolohichnyi slovnyk ukrainskoi movy [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (5): 453–454. ISBN 966-00-0785-X.
According to Bilaniuk (2005), "Any perceived mixing of different languages may merit the label ["surzhyk"], and perceptions vary depending on individuals' linguistic backgrounds. The term can refer to a high degree of code-switching by bilinguals or to a linguistic code in which the elements of the two languages are inextricably fused. Thus the definition of "surzhyk" as a whole remains primarily ideological, although we can list the influences and forms that fall under this umbrella term". She distinguished five categories of surzhyk: urbanized-peasant surzhyk; village-dialect surzhyk; Sovietized Ukrainian surzhyk; urban bilinguals' surzhyk (habitual language mixing by bilinguals); and post-independence surzhyk. The first three forms represented the introduction of Russian elements on a Ukrainian base (the first two originally mostly involving 19th-century rural Ukrainians inside Imperial Russia), while in the last two forms, the mixing of languages went both ways, with the post-independence surzhyk (or "reverse surzhyk") mostly representing urban native Russian speakers trying to acquire better Ukrainian language proficiency in independent Ukraine.
Surzhyk is recognized as an intermediate linguistic combination of traditional Ukrainian dialects and standard Russian. Another way to classify this is as a stabilized mesolect. Since it reflects the influence of both Ukrainian and Russian, it is constituted as a mesolectal continuum with regional variants. Surzhyk contrasts the spontaneity of the linguistic process with a regularized system. It is also common for many speakers in central and southern Ukraine to acquire this linguistic system in early childhood.
In a broader context, the term surzhyk is sometimes used as a generic label for various language contacts within the post-Soviet space, such as the Russian-Romanian mixed speech found in Moldova. Within Ukraine, rural dialects in the western regions are often colloquially (though technically inaccurately) called a Polish-Ukrainian surzhyk due to heavy Polish influence; however, linguists distinguish these regional dialects from the Russification patterns of the central and eastern surzhyk. While the word almost exclusively means Ukrainian-Russian mixing when used within Russia, the term in Ukraine can refer to the blending of Ukrainian with any other language but still mainly refers to the mixing with Russian. Because these other forms of surzhyk exist on a dialect continuum, it is practically impossible to draw a boundary between standard Ukrainian, "Ukrainianized" Russian, and the various intermediate iterations of surzhyk.Del Gaudio, Salvatore (2010). "On the Nature of Suržyk: A Matter of Terminology". The Ukrainian Suržyk: An Analytical and Comparative Perspective: 13–35. ISBN 978-3-631-59356-1.
Prevalence
According to data presented by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in 2003, 11% to 18% of the people of Ukraine were found to communicate in Surzhyk. Specifically, in western Ukraine, Surzhyk is spoken by 2.5% of the population, while in the south, it is spoken by over 12.4% of the population. In the east, 9.6% of the population speaks Surzhyk. As Western Ukraine has a higher ratio of Ukrainian speakers to Russian speakers than the rest of Ukraine, the lesser proportion of Surzhyk speakers compared with the east and south is understandable.
One problem in analysing the linguistic status of Ukraine is that there is a tendency for code-switching errors to exist across the entire spectrum of languages. In other words, those who identify themselves as Russian-speaking or Ukrainian-speaking can often be found blending the two languages to some degree. Only a few of these individuals were found to acknowledge the non-standardness of the use of either or both languages, or the fact that they were actually blending Russian and Ukrainian in their speech at all.
History There is no consensus when Surzhyk first emerged. A minority view holds that it could trace back as far as the 17th century, but a larger group of scholars regards the industralisation and urbanisation of Ukraine in the 19th century as the turning point during which Surzhyk first appeared. Yet another point of view is that Surzhyk originated at the end of the 18th century, when Ukrainian peasants started to have greater contact with the Russian language as Ukrainian society modernized.Moser, Michael (2014). "Language Contact: Ukrainian and Russian". Language and Society in Post-Soviet Europe: 121–134. ISBN 978-1137021649.
In 1721, the Russian Tsar Peter I prohibited the publication of books in Ukraine, except for Russian-language religious works, and decreed that Ukrainian books and records were to burned. In 1786, it was decreed that services in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church were to be conducted using only the Russian pronunciation of Old Church Slavonic, and not the Ukrainian pronunciation. Decrees in 1863, 1876, and 1881 prohibited the publication and importation of Ukrainian books, as well as the public use of the Ukrainian language in general. The Russian regime of the day viewed the use of Ukrainian as evidence of political opposition and harshly suppressed it.
Pre-Soviet era Industrialization resulted in workers migrating from Central Russia to Ukrainian cities and the urbanization of the Ukrainian peasantry. Russian civil and military administration, together with cultural, business, religious and educational institutions, soon became forces of linguistic Russification. Ukrainian peasants moving to the cities regarded Russian as being more urban and prestigious than their own language. However, because their schooling in the Russian language was inadequate, most Ukrainian peasants who strove to speak it ended up blending it with their native Ukrainian; this was how Surzhyk was born.Bilaniuk Laada. Contested Tongues: Language Politics and Cultural Correction in Ukraine. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005.
The speaking of pure Ukrainian (i.e. a language without elements of Russian) was for the most part avoided by the urban intelligentsia, because the Ukrainian language was associated with provincialism and nationalism. At this point, the majority of Ukrainians found it easy to become competent in Russian. The association of the Ukrainian language with a rural lifestyle or narrow-minded nationalism encouraged more Ukrainians to adopt Russian as their language of choice. Such decisions led to an increased prevalence of Surzhyk in everyday speech and the further dilution of the Ukrainian language.Bilaniuk, Laada (2005). "Value and Stigma in Language Ideologies". Contested Tongues: Language Politics and Cultural Correction in Ukraine: 61–88. ISBN 978-0801443404.
The use of the Ukrainian language in theatre and music was also banned, and it had to be translated into other languages. Education in the Ukrainian language also suffered similarly, with ethnically Ukrainian teachers being replaced with ethnic Russians. In the early 20th century, children were punished for speaking Ukrainian to one another in school, and people sometimes lost their jobs for speaking it.
The Kingdom of Hungary's rule in western Ukraine in the late 18th and 19th centuries was also linguistically oppressive. For example, in Zakarpattia, Hungarian was the only language permitted by the regime, so Ukrainian was excluded from institutions like schools. Even so, language policies here were not as restrictive as those applied in eastern Ukraine by the Tsarist regime of Russia.Yekelchyk, Serhy (2007-03-29). Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation. Oxford University Press. pp. 42–50. ISBN 978-0195305463.
Soviet era
In the 1920s, after Ukraine became a part of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian language saw a revival under the Soviet policy of korenizatsiya (nativisation), which supported the development of non-Russian languages. The purpose was to gain the support of those ethnic groups that had been oppressed by the Tsarist regime. Soviet government business in Ukraine was conducted in the Ukrainian language, with the aim of integrating the Ukrainian people into the new Soviet system.Pauly, Matthew D. Teaching place, assembling the nation: local studies in Soviet Ukrainian schools during the 1920s. History of Education Vol. 39 No. 1. (2010) 75-93 This Ukrainisation brought with it a significant advance in the development, standardisation, and codification of the Ukrainian language. Accompanying it was an increase in the number of Ukrainian-language publications, as well as theatre productions and schools in which Ukrainian was used.