Language Differentiation of Ukraine’s Population (original) (raw)

From Russification to Ukrainisation: A Survey of Language Politics in Ukraine

Throughout the twentieth century, inhabitants of Ukraine experienced many drastic changes in linguistic identity as a result of the establishment of the Soviet Union and the attempts to "unify" Russia with its neighboring countries and then once more when Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. As a result of shifting language policies, a situation has presented itself in which some Ukrainians claim Ukrainian as their native language, but not all. Others who feel they are ethnically Ukrainian speak Russian as their native language, and some even speak a variety of mixed language, which many native Ukrainians refer to as surzhyk. Since Ukraine’s independence, political awareness of the current linguistic situation has led to the exclusive use of Ukrainian in an effort to help it reemerge as the official language of the state. Major recent policies have targeted the media especially, due to the fact that media has a major effect on populations, and it had previously been presented almost entirely in Russian. However, an interesting situation has developed in that media outlets are finding ways around these rules by having two presenters: one in Russian and one in Ukrainian, reflecting the linguistic divide in Ukraine. This overview of the current linguistic situation in Ukraine will serve to show the reasons for the current language policies and exactly how far these policies have extended.

BILINGUALISM IN UKRAINE: VALUE OR CHALLENGE

Several analyses have summarized the linguistic situation of Ukraine, highlighting various aspects of the problematic issues of Ukraine's language policy. The fundamental problems of the linguistic situation in Ukraine are the lack of consensus regarding the issue of what role the Ukrainian language has in constructing the new post-Soviet identity and in nation building, what status the Russian language should be given in Ukraine. According to the data from the 2001 census, 80% of the adult population of Ukraine speak (at least) one other language fluently in addition to their mother tongue. In the country it is clear that the reality in most of Ukraine is of bilingualism. Almost everyone in Ukraine is bilingual; to varying degrees, a fundamental characteristic of the language situation in Ukraine is bilingualism of society. In spite of this, due to negative historical experiences, bilingualism is stigmatized in Ukraine, and that makes codification of bilingualism impossible on the state level. The paper shows the attitude of the political elite that took power after the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych towards the issue of bilingualism. We present how the linguists and representatives of the intellectuals comment on the bilingualism in Ukraine. The primordial, national romantic view that makes the Ukrainian language and the (free and independent) Ukrainian nation the same nowadays strongly dominates in Ukraine.

BACK SIDE OF BILINGUALISM IN UKRAINE

International Journal of Multilingual Education, by Natalia Lysenko, 2017

The article deals with the language situation in Ukraine and the state of bilingualism today due to political and linguistic reasons. In fact, Ukraine is a bilingual country with the population speaking both Ukrainian and Russian. Unfortunately, the language issue has become an integral part of political programs of many politicians due to the fact that one part of the population is Ukrainian-speaking and another part is Russian-speaking. Thus, in order to satisfy their constituent body, some politicians promise to support Russian and other politicians promise to introduce Ukrainian in all the official spheres of life of the country. Therefore, Ukraine today faces an artificially created language conflict between those who defend the rights of their preferred languages. The 'oppression' of the Russian-speaking population is claimed to be one of the causes of military intervention into the Eastern Ukraine, producing over a million of internally displaced people. These people who were forced to leave their homes in Eastern Ukraine, on the contrary, state that they did not feel any restriction in use of the Russian languages. Moreover, some of them even made conscious choice to speak Ukrainian as a state language. Thus, the language conflict in Ukraine is an artificial one, and it is a personal choice which language to speak.

Russian Language in Ukraine: Does it Concern Only Russians?

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011

Russian language in Ukraine: does it concern only Russians? Kseniia URSULENKO* This paper examines the problem of current status of the Russian language in Ukraine. Based on the data of a monitoring "Ukrainian society" conducted by the Institute of Sociology (Kyiv) on the yearly basis since 1994, I define the factors that influence people's attitudes toward the Russian language. The focus of the analysis is on the individual-and regional-level effects. The results show that there is a significant regional effect on the degree of support of the Russian language: the more Russian-speaking people live in the oblast (administrative unit), the more likely people from this oblast are to support the official status of the Russian language. In the meantime, no nationality effect was revealed suggesting that Ukrainians and Russians do not differ in the level of support of the official status for the Russian language in Ukraine.

Transition in language policy of Ukraine (1989–2014)

At the time of writing this article ethnic relations and language policy (LP) of Ukraine are in the focus of national and international attention due to the ongoing military conflict between Ukraine and Russia and its ethnic/linguistic roots. As far as LP is concerned, today we are right in the middle of a new wave of transition in Ukraine. Since the political takeover in 2014, the present language law (LL 2012) became a target associated with the previous Russophile political regime, and consequently, its days are numbered. However, it is not the first wave of changes since the country gained its independence: within the past 25 years we can differentiate at least four main periods in LP, which – oftentimes – maintained totally contradicting directions reflecting the complex linguistic situation and its fragile balance in Ukraine.

The Ecology of Language in Ukraine

2009

Since becoming an independent nation in 1991, Ukraine, like other post-Soviet countries, has heavily promoted the use and development of the titular language to reverse the effects of historical discrimination and Russification. This paper uses an ecological framework to illustrate the deeper complexities of the relationship among Ukrainian, Russian and additional languages in Ukraine in: 1) historical and geographical aspects of national language policy and practice, 2) languagein-education policies, 3) language use and language attitudes, and 4) the current role of English in Ukraine. I conclude that state support for Ukrainian continues to be justified. The necessary level of language rights protections for Russian speakers, including Russian-speaking Ukrainians, is still subject to debate. The unique interplay of policy, practice and cultural norms in Ukraine are likely to impact future Russian or Ukrainian language planning outcomes. English study and use, however, may be more ...

Problem of Choosing the Language of Communication: Ukrainian Realities

Cognitive Studies | Études cognitives

The article analyses the situational change in the language behaviour (code switching) of representatives from different regions of Ukraine based on the data of a statistically significant mass survey of the adult population of different regions in 2017. The dependence of language behaviour on the language situation in a region is confirmed and certain patterns inherent in each of the regions are revealed. The use of the Ukrainian language has a similar dependence on the language situation in all regions, but at different levels: it is used more often when communicating with Ukrainian-speakers, officials, in education, etc. It is rarely used in the information sphere. The connection between the degree of Russification of a certain territory and the laws of language choice in a particular situation is revealed. The articles proposes using the results of mass surveys to study language behaviour through the prism of territorial features, which will help to pursue a balanced state langu...