David Black on dropping the “The” when referring to Ukraine

Why do we refer to Ukraine as The Ukraine? Political communications expert Assoc. Prof. David Black shares his thoughts on political linguistics and why we've dropped the 'The' when referring to Ukraine, on CFAX 1070 Afternoons with Ryan Price.

Here is an excerpt:

“Ukraine is a Slavic word, and Ukrainian culture and languages is Slavic in origin. That means borderlands.  Because Ukraine, which is the biggest country geographically in Europe,” says Black. “Ukraine, as a sovereign country is still relatively new, but it has been a place in which a lot of European history, more than most, has been staged. It is a borderland in every sense of the word in that in that way.”

 “…so when any of us says ‘the Ukraine’, what we are doing is basically recasting the sovereign country of Ukraine, as you know, in terms of its historical past as a former Soviet republic…the absence of the “The” is the assertion of sovereignty. It's a declaration of independence by the country we call Ukraine.”

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