На/в Украине?

[bakedgoods10.livejournal.com]

I've heard a couple different opinions on this topic, and would like to see what the majority of native speakers has to say.

When saying "in Ukraine" does one use the preposition на or в? Originally, in school, I was taught на Украине. However, my senior year, in preparation for a trip there, we were instructed to say в Украине. The explanation was that, Ukrainians, since the fall of the CCCP, have renewed pride for their country, and claim that since it is not an island there is no reason to use на- that it is в Украине. Russians, though, still claim it to be на Украине. However, speaking recently with my host brother from Ukraine, he uses на. So, is what I'm been told about в complete nonsense, or is it a regional thing? My host brother's from Eastern Ukraine, when Russian is still the main language spoken in homes, and Ukrainian is left for official documents only, whereas I've heard the west is all Ukrainian-speaking. Could that be where в comes from?

That's my question to native speakers- do you say на Украине or в Украине? Which country/region are you from and how old are you?

x-posted in linguaphiles

Comments

[aksioma-tg.livejournal.com]

На Кубе, На Кипре.

[thyeadeschatarr.livejournal.com]

Куба и Кипр воспринимаются как острова в первую очередь, а потом уже страны. Традиция.

[aksioma-tg.livejournal.com]

А Украина воспринимается как область. Традиция.
Дело не в том, кто как воспринимается, а в том, что традиция в языке есть традиция. И пока ее никто не менял
But according to the rules we have to speak English. A tradition, you know ;)

[thyeadeschatarr.livejournal.com]

vide infra, i agree with traditions =)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Explain на Аляске then, please. It is not an island.

[thyeadeschatarr.livejournal.com]

Good for you.
На Ямале, На Украине, На Урале as about traditional geographic regions, persistent sentences.

[andrey-bessonov.livejournal.com]

Alaska is not a country, it is a region. Moreover, a region that once belonged to Russia (that's the difference between Alaska and Texas, for example).

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

California once belonged to Russia as well. Do we still say на Калифорнии? Haven't occured to me.
:)

[andrey-bessonov.livejournal.com]

:) OK, OK, anyway countries are usually with "в"

на Аляске

[bakedgoods10.livejournal.com]

I learned the answer to this в университете на Аляске...The answer's historical. When Russia first explored Alaska, they thought it was a big island. In fact, most of their settlements and even a couple of the castles they built were on the islands of Alaska's southeast panhandle. One would think they'd have switched prepositions when it came to be realized it wasn't just and island, but I guess it's традиция.

[kart.livejournal.com]

Well, you do have to cross water to get there from Russia. Probably just a traditional usage.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

You have to cross quite a bit of water to get from Russia (or from Alaska) to California as well. Still, it always was "в Калифорнию" (or, closer to the early 19th century spelling, "въ Калифорнiю"), and "въ Русскую Америку" in general, not на, though there always was water between Russia and America ;-)