Graphic and phonetic features of the “Mirror of Theology” by Kyrylо Stavrovetsky in 1618

Abstract

The article analyzes the peculiarities of spelling and phonetic features of Ukrainian language of the monument “Mirror of Theology (Зерцало богословіи)” (1618) by Kyrylo Tranquillion-Stavrovetskyi.It is emphasized that the old Ukrainian literary and written tradition developed in the stream of contemporary cultural and linguistic trends of the late Middle Ages.The vernacular element has already penetrated into all spheres of written language of use: Ruthenian-Ukrainians easily and effortlessly introduced it into office work, fiction and polemical literature, into church-religious texts, and wrote scientific treatises with it. It is emphasized that special value for understanding the development of the Ukrainian literary language of specific time periods are original works, which revealed the uniqueness of the author, which is often emphasized by the use of local colloquial elements. Kyrylo Stavrovetskyi occupied a prominent place in the formation and development of the old Ukrainian literary language, because, according to many researchers, he was one of the most educated figures of the first half of the 17th century. It is noted that, in Ukrainian colloquial element is revealed quite widely and consistently at the sound level (confusion of ы, и; reflection of *ě; reflection of the consequences of ІІ palatalization, etc.). At the same time, some verbal features, inherent in writings of that time, are either not presented at all in the old edition of Kyrylo Stavrovetskyi (transition of the initial je > o), or are only singly revealed (new “ять”). Such selectivity of getting into the text of some features and not getting of others, perhaps, should be explained both by the general writing and spelling tendencies of that time and by author’s level of education. Keywords: history of the Ukrainian language, Old Ukrainian literary and written language, written memoir, dialect features.