The state status of the Ukrainian language raised the issue of the enlargement of its communicative and cognitive functions as an important factor in state formation, a reliable mechanism of consolidating society. New public conditions for the functioning of the Ukrainian language motivate, first, comprehension of such a concept as national-linguistic consciousness associated with self-awareness, self-determination of the nation, the discovery of its identity culture. Secondly, they raise the questions of the indepth study of the Ukrainian language as a literary language standard, which is an important, historically determined variety of the national language in its dynamics, given the conditions of globalization, significant migration processes and the influence of unlimited information space.The concepts of "state language", "national language", "literary language" in relation to the Ukrainian language provide the appropriate content in context of the history of terminology of these concepts. If the first is explicated in legal, legislative documents, the second needs further linguistic definition due to the fact that it is often used in the humanities discourses, without distinguishing between such varieties of the national language as literary language and the language of territorial and social dialects.In the historical and cultural discourse of the XIX century there was a formation of the concept of the Ukrainian language as an active subject in the history of the Ukrainian people, who, in conditions of statelessness, fought for the right to have their own language not only for domestic use, but also to develop education, culture and enter the civilized world as an authentic Slavic nation.Divided between different states, the stateless Ukrainian nation has walked the difficult path of formation of the literary variety of the national language, that language standard, which in modern conditions is an important factor in consolidating society, as well as an instrument of professional communication in various fields of human activities.Literary language is a phenomenon of communication, codified and developed in all areas of science, education, culture and production. It provides real multifunctionality, social prestige of the language that unites society and ensures the integrity of the national culture.