Editing Ukrainian language (section)

===Theories===
Specific developments that led to a gradual change of the Old East Slavic vowel system into the system found in modern Ukrainian began around the 12th/13th century (that is, still at the time of the Kievan Rus') with a lengthening and raising of the Old East Slavic mid vowels ''e'' and ''o'' when followed by a consonant and a [[Havlík's law|weak yer]] vowel that would eventually disappear completely, for example Old East Slavic котъ /kɔtə/ > Ukrainian кіт /kit/ 'cat' (via transitional stages such as /koˑtə̆/, /kuˑt(ə̆)/, /kyˑt/ or similar) or Old East Slavic печь /pʲɛtʃʲə/ > Ukrainian піч /pitʃ/ 'oven' (via transitional stages such as /pʲeˑtʃʲə̆/, /pʲiˑtʃʲ/ or similar).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Schweier |first=Ulrich |title=Ukrainisch |encyclopedia=Lexikon der Sprachen des europäischen Ostens (Wieser-Enzyklopädie des europäischen Ostens, vol. 10) |year=2002 |publisher=Wieser Verlag |location=Klagenfurt/Celovec |editor-last1=Okuka |editor-first1=Miloš |editor-last2=Krenn |editor-first2=Gerald |pages=535–549 |url=https://eeo.uni-klu.ac.at/wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/eeo/Ukrainisch.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023175332/https://eeo.uni-klu.ac.at/wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at/eeo/Ukrainisch.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-23 |url-status=live |isbn=3-85129-510-2}}</ref> This raising and other [[Phonology|phonological]] developments of the time, such as the merger of the Old East Slavic vowel [[Phoneme|phonemes]] и /i/ and ы /ɨ/ into the specifically Ukrainian phoneme /ɪ ~ e/, spelled with и (in the 13th/14th centuries), and the [[Fricative|fricativisation]] of the Old East Slavic consonant г /g/, probably first to /ɣ/ (in the 13th century), with /ɦ/ as a reflex in Modern Ukrainian, did not happen in Russian. Only the fricativisation of Old East Slavic г /g/ occurred in Belarusian, where the present-day reflex is /ɣ/.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

[[Ahatanhel Krymsky]] and [[Aleksey Shakhmatov]] assumed the existence of the common spoken language of Eastern Slavs only in prehistoric times.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://litopys.org.ua/pivtorak/pivt.htm |title=Григорій Півторак. Походження українців, росіян, білорусів та їхніх мов |publisher=Litopys.org.ua |access-date=2012-05-22 |archive-date=1 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201064220/http://litopys.org.ua/pivtorak/pivt.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> According to them the diversification of the Old East Slavic language took place in the 8th or early 9th century.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

Russian linguist [[Andrey Zaliznyak]] stated that the [[Old Novgorod dialect]] differed significantly from that of other dialects of Kievan Rus' during the 11th–12th century, but started becoming more similar to them around the 13th–15th centuries. The modern Russian language hence developed from the fusion of this Novgorod dialect and the common dialect spoken by the other Kievan Rus', whereas the modern Ukrainian and Belarusian languages developed from dialects which did not differ from each other in a significant way.<ref name="About Russian Language History">{{cite web |last1=Zaliznyak |first1=Andrey Anatolyevich |title=About Russian Language History |url=https://elementy.ru/nauchno-populyarnaya_biblioteka/431649/Ob_istorii_russkogo_yazyka |website=elementy.ru |publisher=Mumi-Trol School |access-date=21 May 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418153113/https://elementy.ru/nauchno-populyarnaya_biblioteka/431649/Ob_istorii_russkogo_yazyka |url-status=live }}</ref>

Ukrainian linguist [[Stepan Smal-Stotsky]] denies the existence of a common Old East Slavic language at any time in the past.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://litopys.org.ua/istkult/ikult01.htm |title=Мова (В.В.Німчук). 1. Історія української культури |publisher=Litopys.org.ua |access-date=2012-05-22 |archive-date=10 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610194227/http://litopys.org.ua/istkult/ikult01.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Similar points of view were shared by [[Yevhen Tymchenko]], [[Vsevolod Hantsov]], [[Olena Kurylo]], [[Ivan Ohienko]] and others. According to this theory, the dialects of East Slavic tribes evolved gradually from the common Proto-Slavic language without any intermediate stages during the 6th through 9th centuries. The Ukrainian language was formed by convergence of tribal dialects, mostly due to an intensive migration of the population within the territory of today's Ukraine in later historical periods. This point of view was also supported by [[George Shevelov]]'s phonological studies,<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|date=1979|title=Юрій Шевельов. Історична фонологія української мови|url=http://www.litopys.org.ua/shevelov/shev.htm|access-date=8 May 2016|publisher=Litopys.org.ua|archive-date=20 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120105749/http://litopys.org.ua/shevelov/shev.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> which argue that specific features{{Which|date=September 2016}} were already recognizable in the southern dialects of Old East Slavic (seen as ancestors to Ukrainian) as far back as these varieties can be documented.<ref name="shevelov" />