Azirivka (Ukrainian: Азірівка) or Azirovka (Ukrainian: Азіровка) is a derisive name for the broken Ukrainian of the former Ukrainian prime minister Mykola Azarov. The term is produced by the corruption of his surname in an exaggerated way according to the "rules" of Azirivka. [1] The term was later applied to the speech of other Ukrainian politicians with poor command of Ukrainian.[2] It should be distinguished from surzhyk, which is an arbitrary colloquial mix of several languages, akin to pidgin, most commonly Ukrainian and Russian, widespread in Ukraine.

Background

According to the 1989 Law of the Languages Ukrainian was declared the only official language in the country, and state officials were encouraged to speak Ukrainian in public. Many of them were Russian-speaking and struggled with Ukrainian in their speech, and they were often publicly derided. Among them of note are Viktor Yanukovych (see Yanukism) and Mykola Azarov.

Azarov speaks Ukrainian poorly.[3] [4][5] Nevertheless, he assured his constituents in early March 2010 that his government would be speaking Ukrainian.[5]

Characteristics

The main features of Azirivka is liberal replacement of vowels o, e, y, with 'i'[lower-alpha 1] and "akanye", replacement of the phonemes /o/ with [a], typical of Russian speech. [1][2] (The term "Azirivka" was produced by applying the first "rule".) Often this produced a hilarious effect, the most notable "Azirovism" being krovosisi (кровосісі) for "bloodsuckers".[6] It is a result of Azarov's hapless attempt to "Ukrainize" the Russian word "krovososy". Quote: "…в країні сформувался цілий прошарок кровосісів бюджетних коштів". The fun comes from the word "sisi", which is a baby talk for "tits" in Russian, i.e., it may be translated as "bloody tits". The correct Ukrainian word is кровососи (krovososy).[7]

Azarov's son, Oleksiy Azarov, also a politician, said that unless the term is used with the purpose of insulting, it should be treated indifferently and even with humor.[8] Azarov himself treated this light-heartedly.[9]

In culture

Deputy of Rada Oleh Liashko called for resignation of Azarov by reading a text from a paper written in Azirivka, however his microphone was quickly turned off.[10]

Azirivka has become an element of humor during Euromaidan, when the words were coined, such as biikit for "boycott" or bimba for "bomb", and there was even an insult directed at Azarov: "Aзiрiв iдi на хiй!" ("Aziriv, idi na khij!"), which could be compared to: "Aziriv, go to hill!", although the Ukrainian original is much more insulting, comparable to "Putin khuilo".[1] Many of "azirivisms", real or invented, are funny due to sexual innuendos: вагин, госпидар, минет, пиздно/папизже/опиздав.

In the Ukrainian satirical animated series Fairytale Rus by Kvartal 95 Studio chancellor Azirov at the court of Tsar Viktor II (a hint to Viktor Yanukovych) speaks in an "ancient Rusian language" (на "древнеруськом"), a hilarious mixture of Russian and Ukrainian resembling Azirivka.[11][12]

Notes

  1. ↑ Azarov's liberal substitution with vowel 'i' comes from two sources. The first one is the phonetic shift o->i in many Ukrainian words (кот->кіт, он мог->вiн мiг) known as ikavism The second one is the confusion about the letter и, which corresponds to different phonemes in Russian and Ukrainian; Ukrainian distinction of sounds i/и roughly matches Russian distinction и/ы. In the most famous Azirovism кровососи->кровосiсi the first 'i' comes from the "hypercorrection" based on the first source, and the second 'i' comes from the second one.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Laada Bilaniuk, "Purism and Pluralism: Language Use Trends in Popular Culture in Ukraine since Independence", Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 35, No. 1/4, THE BATTLE FOR UKRAINIAN: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE (2017-2018), pp. 293-309, JSTOR 44983545
  2. 1 2 Юлія Горбань, Не пропустити «Азірова»: чиновників тестуватимуть з української
  3. ↑ "Newsmaker: Ukraine prime minister nominee is close ally of president". Kyiv Post. 11 March 2010. Archived from the original on 14 March 2010.
  4. ↑ "Ukraine country profile". BBC News. 26 April 2012. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Azarov of Party of Regions swears speaking Ukrainian if appointed prime minister". Kyiv Post. 11 March 2010. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
    Уроки куртульной речи от министра б'Азарова. on YouTube
  6. ↑ "Кровосісі" та "папєрєдніки": як Азаров створив нову мову
  7. ↑ "КРОВОСОС"
  8. ↑ Азаров не уявляє відпочинку без чебуреків та вважає, що з "азірівки" можна посміятися
  9. ↑ Азаров вважає, що "Азіров" - це не він
  10. ↑ "Урід Азірова має піті у відстівку!" - Ляшко виступив у Раді "азарівською" мовою.
    • Quote: "Добрий дінь, шанівний Микіла Яновіч! Сігодня Вас міжуть відправіти у відстівку. І Ві маєтє туді піті з усімя кровосісямі. Ваш кібінєт міністрів нєефєктівєн, нідіздаітєн"
  11. ↑ Казкова Русь. Висміює українських політиків мультфільм від 95 кварталу
  12. ↑ Космеда Тетяна Анатоліївна, "Вектор формування нових мовних і комунікативних норм в українському дискурсивному просторі", Лінгвістичні дослідження. - 2016. - Вип. 43. - С. 42-50.

Further reading

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