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Various Russian & other sources give this map (also on P.SE, but probably the most notable of these might be https://www.opendemocracy.net/ru/kto-boretsya-s-kem-v-ukraine-i-pochemu/)

enter image description here

Was that map actually published by "Kyiv National Linguistic University" in 2009 as claimed by the caption? And what kind of publication was it? A consensus statement by the researchers of the university? One paper by a subset of their faculty, etc.? And what kind of survey methodology did they use to determine the language spoken "at home"?

Fizz
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    As I've mentioned on the question at [Politics.SE], the map cannot be claiming that there are no households in the eastern part of the country where Ukrainian is spoken and none in the west where Ukrainian is spoken. It only makes sense as a fairly low-resolution view of the dominant regional language. It doesn't make sense to conclude from this map that "only a few Ukrainians in the west of the country speak Ukrainian." – phoog Sep 23 '22 at 11:54
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    Another important piece of context: [surzhyk](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surzhyk) apparently refers to a mixture of Ukrainian and Russian, so the entire orange area should also be considered "Ukrainian speaking" to a large extent. – IMSoP Sep 23 '22 at 12:35
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    The Wikipedia article says surzhyk has multiple meanings, but can be a mix of Ukrainian with any other language, or can have a narrower meaning. – Stuart F Sep 23 '22 at 13:31
  • @StuartF: yeah there's something a bit strange there that according to some other research (from 2003) [cited](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surzhyk#Prevalence) on,Wikipedia no region of Ukraine had more than 25% or so of surzhyk speakers. So I suspect there's fairly flexible def of that. – Fizz Sep 23 '22 at 13:38
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    For context, maybe compare that with a map of Ireland showing how many house-holds speak Irish as opposed to English at home. – ChrisW Sep 24 '22 at 07:41
  • @ChrisW: that's a [good point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_the_Irish_language) but still would be interesting to know if the data on Ukraine is true. – Fizz Sep 24 '22 at 08:06
  • @ChrisW or Wales and Welsh. – Weather Vane Sep 24 '22 at 08:46
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    @WeatherVane Or Scotland; but they're part of the UK and most of Ireland isn't, so Ireland is more of an apt comparison -- the point being that, just because the people in another country speak your language, doesn't imply that it's really your country for the taking. – ChrisW Sep 24 '22 at 12:51
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    btw, the guy who posted this map in p.se site is a pro-russian guy – Salvador Dali Sep 24 '22 at 20:31
  • @ChrisW the problem at P.SE is that this map is being used to support the assertion that there are _no_ Ukrainian speakers in eastern Ukraine, which does not seem to be the case. Even without knowing what methodology produced this map, one can see that it isn't detailed enough to support such a statement. If the absence of yellow in Donetsk really means that there are no Ukrainian speakers there then this map is saying that there are more Greek speakers in Donetsk than Ukrainian speakers, which is not credible. The 2001 census showed 6029 Greek speakers in the country. – phoog Sep 25 '22 at 05:49
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    NB, the map is 13 years old and even the linked p.se post states that the situation is changing. – gerrit Sep 28 '22 at 12:03
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    "just because the people in another country speak your language, doesn't imply that it's really your country for the taking" – A point the US made rather vividly in 1776. – Jörg W Mittag Sep 28 '22 at 14:28
  • A similar question is asked on every US census, and it is about the language used most frequently in normal home interaction. It explicitly is not about a person's first language or an inquiry into what languages they speak. The question also doesn't take into account the many people who use multiple languages. – Robert Columbia Oct 02 '22 at 12:21

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