----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I forwarded the question to a friend, this is his answer:
 
>Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1997 03:25:00 -0800
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>To: Peter van der Krogt <<a href="/scripts/wa-UGA.exe?LOGON=A3%3D9702%26L%3DMAPS-L%26E%3D7BIT%26P%3D86267%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplaintext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>>
>From: Vladimir Shkurkin <<a href="/scripts/wa-UGA.exe?LOGON=A3%3D9702%26L%3DMAPS-L%26E%3D7BIT%26P%3D86267%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplaintext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>>
>Subject: Re: "cyrillic" languages
>
>At 09:09 AM 97/02/07 +0100, you wrote:
>>This was on the Maps-L discussion list. Maybe you can help?
>>
>>Peter
>
>Hello Peter,
>
>I am assuming this has to do with modern maps.
>I cannot give an answer for post-soviet era maps generated
>in the native languages of the Asiatic republics (Tajikistan,
>Uzbekistan, etc) which have adapted Cyrillic letters for
>their written languages, nor can I give a simple answer for
>Belarus (I have seen both Ukrainian and Russian used in Belarus).
>Like in Ukraine, Belarus used Russian furing the Soviet era.
>
>For Ukrainian/Russian there are a couple of very simple tests, depending upon
>the age of the map.  If the map was generated after 1918, there
>are no Latin letters "i" in the Russian language; the letter for
>that sound looks like a mirror image of "N".
>
>The Ukrainians retained the Latin letter "i", and a dead giveaway
>is the presence of the Latin "i" except that it has two dots above
>it.  Russian does not have a double-dotted "i".
>
>Look for how Kiev is spelled. If it has an "i" as the second letter,
>that's Ukrainian.  Odessa has one "c" in Ukrainian, two in Russian.
>
>Most of the maps of Ukraine published during the Soviet era
>are in Russian.  Russian was taught as the primary language
>during the Soviet era, and even Kuchma, the president of Ukraine
>had to take a crash course in Ukrainian to improve it after he
>was elected.  There is currently a big push to have everything
>official in Ukrainian.
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>
>Vlad Shkurkin
>6025 Rose Arbor
>San Pablo CA 94806-4147
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>-------------------------------
 
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Dr Peter van der Krogt
Map Historian, Explokart Research Program
Faculty of Geographical Sciences, University of Utrecht
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