From Booksmart Studios, this is Lexicon Valley, a podcast about language.
I'm John McWhorter, and given the state of things right now,
I think it would be remiss of me not to devote an episode of Lexicon Valley to the Ukrainian language.
That's because, for one, it's not hard not to know a whole lot about it.
if you aren't of the relevant sphere.
And also there are some misunderstandings about Ukrainian,
particularly within that sphere that get around, that we need to clear up.
For starters, Ukrainian is a Slavic.
language.
Russian is one too,
and Russian is the Slavic language that has the most influence and the most speakers.
And there's been a tendency in the Russian literature, in the Russian government,
in Russian tradition, to think of Ukrainian as just a kind of Russian.
This is something that you can pick up if you're listening or even not particularly listening.
There has even been a tradition of calling Ukrainian Little Russian.
And in terms of how languages work and how languages resemble each other and don't and the distance of languages from one another,
that just isn't true.
And so, for example, I can get... about, you know,
about half of a Russian conversation if it isn't too fast and if it's about basic things.
I have loved the language for a long time, as my longtime listeners know.