Abstract
Around the 1960s, folklore koine and urban koine were identified as two types of pre-standard supradialectal language varieties underlying the formation of full-fledged standards in a number of Slavonic languages (even if vacillations are observable as to the choice of proper terms to refer to them). From this standpoint, Modern Standard Ukrainian is unique in that both koine types took part in its shaping. This view of its origins was mainly propounded in a series of publications by George Y. Shevelov in the West. In Ukraine itself, a similar stance (although differently formulated) was taken by Fedot Žylko. The roots of this conception go back to the 1930s, when it was discussed by Leonid Bulaxovs′kyj, building on the work of some other Ukrainian authors. This approach proved to be useful and is gaining ground in modern scholarship.