Editing Surzhyk (section)

== Etymology and terminology ==
The Ukrainian word ''surzhyk'' (from [[Proto-Slavic]] *sǫ — «with» + *rъžь — «rye») —  originally referred to a mix of different grains that includes [[rye]] or a product like flour or bread made from such a mix. Another possible origin is that it is a shortened, colloquialized version of the word "surrogate" i.e. surrogate of Ukrainian and Russian.{{cn|date=September 2023}}

According to Bilaniuk (2005), "Any perceived mixing of different languages may merit the label ["surzhyk"], and perceptions vary depending on individuals' linguistic backgrounds. The term can refer to a high degree of [[code-switching]] by bilinguals or to a linguistic code in which the elements of the two languages are inextricably fused. Thus the definition of "surzhyk" as a whole remains primarily ideological, although we can list the influences and forms that fall under this umbrella term".{{sfn|Bilaniuk|2005|p=105}} She distinguished five categories of surzhyk:
# urbanized-peasant surzhyk;
# village-dialect surzhyk;
# Sovietized Ukrainian surzhyk;
# urban bilinguals' surzhyk (habitual language mixing by bilinguals); and
# post-independence surzhyk.{{sfn|Bilaniuk|2005|p=125}}
The first three forms represented the introduction of Russian elements on a Ukrainian base (the first two originally mostly involving 19th-century rural Ukrainians inside Imperial Russia), while in the last two forms, the mixing of languages went both ways, with the post-independence surzhyk (or "reverse surzhyk") mostly representing urban native Russian speakers trying to acquire better Ukrainian language proficiency in independent Ukraine.{{sfn|Bilaniuk|2005|pp=126, 134}}

More generally, "surzhyk" can refer to any mixed language, not necessarily including Ukrainian or Russian. For example, colloquial Ukrainian which is spoken in [[western Ukraine]] is often called incorrectly a Polish-Ukrainian surzhyk due to its loanwords which don't occur in standard Ukrainian,{{cn|date=December 2023}} while in [[Moldova]] one may hear the Russian-Romanian pidgin.{{cn|date=December 2023}} When used by non-Ukrainian speaking people of Ukraine, the word is most commonly used to refer to a mix of Ukrainian with another language, not necessarily Russian. When used in Russia, the word almost always specifically refers to a Ukrainian-Russian language mix. It differs from both Ukrainian and spoken "Ukrainian Russian", although it is impossible to draw a clear line between them and surzhyk.{{cn|date=December 2023}}