Vatroslav Jagić on the Ukrainian Language and Folk Poetry as a Manifestation of the Folk Spirit
Vatroslav Jagić on the Ukrainian Language and Folk Poetry as a Manifestation of the Folk Spirit

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the cultural and ideological principles of V. Jagić’s interpretationof the problems of the Ukrainian language, as well as how V. Jagić assessed the status andprospects of the Ukrainian language at the turn of the century. Jagić’s arguments (linguistic, palaeographic, historical), as well as his personal confidence in the antiquity and originality of the Ukrainian language convinced many Ukrainian and Russian philologists. However, Jagić’s not very optimistic views on the status of the Ukrainian language in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the prospects for its further development fully corresponded to his pro-Russian sentiments and his long-held dream of cultural unity of Slavic peoples. Although Jagić did not devote certain works to Ukrainians and their language, always analysing it in “connection” or comparison with Russian and other Slavic languages (except for the memorandum on the Ruthenian language), these explorations, given the huge authority of their author, in the times of national demarcation and the greatest anti-Ukrainian reaction, were of considerable importance both in Ukrainian linguistics and in Slavic studies in general.

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