Russian, Ukrainian and Polish are the same language.

  • Raebxeh@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    Russian, Ukrainian and Polish are the same language.

    The idea that Slavic languages are just different dialects of each other was actually one pushed by some Ukrainians chauvinists in the early 1900’s trying to get Rusyns to speak and write in Ukrainian.

    Mutual intelligibility with Russian of around ~75% isn’t bad, and the difference between a sister language and a dialect of the same language is admittedly blurry, but this just strikes me as a weird place to make such a strong claim.

    • kot [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      They aren’t just blurry, it’s pretty much impossible to objectively determine what is a dialect and what is a ‘separate’ language, because those things are always politically motivated. “A language is a dialect with an army and navy”, as Max Weinreich said.

    • worldonaturtle [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      It doesnt matter if these languages are mutually intelligible or not, it helps Russia to say they are. If it helped Russia to say the languages were different then the languages are different. The truth does not matter, Russia steamrolling through Europe destroying NATO and US hegemony is all that matters. As long as Russia doesnt become more right wing as the United States it’s the lesser of evils.