Surzhyk

There is no clear definition for what constitutes the pidgin; the term surzhyk is, according to some authors, generally used for "norm-breaking, non-obedience to or non-awareness of the rules of the Ukrainian and Russian standard languages".

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.

[citation needed] 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".

[citation needed] When used by non-Ukrainian speaking people of Ukraine, the word is most commonly used to refer to a mix of Ukrainian with another language, not necessarily Russian.

[citation needed] 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.

[5] 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.

Russian civil and military administration, together with cultural, business, religious and educational institutions, soon became forces of linguistic Russification.

Terminology and wording similar or identical to Russian were emphasized in dictionaries, grammar books, and the official guidance issued to editors and publishers.

[8] After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of Ukraine as a sovereign state, the Ukrainian language became a key issue in the nation's politics.

Ukrainian became Ukraine's sole official language, and therefore the ability to master it in speech became an important skill for politicians and other prominent figures.

For example, the Russian word for "language" — jazyk (язык) – is masculine, whereas the Ukrainian term mova (мова) is feminine.

This was highly apparent in the case of many Ukrainian officials (including the President of Ukraine), who were observed to make code-mixing mistakes in their speech.

This contrasts with the more rural inhabitants, who lack the prestige associated with the educational and technological advantages that people in the cities have.

However, in spite of the differences that exist between the rural and urban varieties of the spoken language, many visitors find that they have trouble communicating with the local population of Ukraine when they follow guidebooks published abroad.

[7] Since 2022, the emergence of such a new Surzhyk has been observed in cities such as Odesa, which has been a cultural and ethnolinguistic crossroads since its foundation in 1792 and used to be overwhelmingly Russian-speaking, but its residents (including many internally displaced people from southern and eastern Ukraine) have been consciously increasingly taking Ukrainian courses, and introducing more forms of Ukrainian into their everyday language usage for patriotic purposes, without necessarily abandoning Russian altogether yet.

Examples include the short plays of Les Poderviansky, and the repertoire of the pop star Verka Serdyuchka.