Editing Surzhyk (section)

==Prevalence==
[[File:SurzhykUse en.png|thumb|350x350px|Prevalence of Surzhyk in the regions of Ukraine. Data by [[Kyiv International Institute of Sociology]] in 2003.<ref name="Kyiv institute">[http://kiis.com.ua/materials/articles_HVE/16_linguaethnical.pdf Київський міжнародний інститут соціології]</ref>]]
According to data presented by the [[Kyiv International Institute of Sociology]] in 2003, 11% to 18% of the people of Ukraine were found to communicate in Surzhyk. Specifically, in western Ukraine, Surzhyk is spoken by 2.5% of the population, while in the south, it is spoken by over 12.4% of the population. In the east, 9.6% of the population speaks Surzhyk. As [[Western Ukraine]] has a higher ratio of Ukrainian speakers to Russian speakers than the rest of Ukraine, the lesser proportion of Surzhyk speakers compared with the east and south is understandable.<ref name="Kyiv institute"/>

One problem in analysing the linguistic status of Ukraine is that there is a tendency for [[code-switching]] errors to exist across the entire spectrum of languages. In other words, those who identify themselves as Russian-speaking or Ukrainian-speaking can often be found blending the two languages to some degree. Only a few of these individuals were found to acknowledge the non-standardness of the use of either or both languages, or the fact that they were actually blending Russian and Ukrainian in their speech at all.<ref name="how do Ukrainians communicate"/>