Ukrainian (украї́нська мо́ва, ukrainska mova, IPA: [ʊkrɐˈjinʲsʲkɐ ˈmɔʋɐ]) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the native language of the Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of the Cyrillic script. The standard Ukrainian language is regulated by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NANU; particularly by its Institute for the Ukrainian Language), the Ukrainian language-information fund,[citation needed] and Potebnia Institute of Linguistics. Comparisons are often drawn to Russian, another East Slavic language, but there is more mutual intelligibility with Belarusian. Ukrainian is a descendent of Old East Slavic, a language spoken in the medieval state of Kievan Rus'. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the language developed into Ruthenian, where it became an official language, before a process of Polonization began in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. By the 18th century, Ruthenian diverged into regional variants and the modern Ukrainian language developed in the territory of present-day Ukraine. In the Russian Empire, the Ukrainian language was later banned as a subject from schools and as a language of instruction as a result of Russification. However, through folk songs, itinerant musicians, and prominent authors, the language maintained a sufficient base in Western Ukraine.
