"Fraternal" nations and challenges to sovereignty in Ukraine: The politics of linguistic and religious ties (original) (raw)
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PhD dissertation, 1998
Language is a key element in negotiations of power and identity, from interpersonal relations to the definition of large sociopolitical units. In this dissertation I examine the role that language has played, and continues to play, in the shaping of modern nations, through a case study of Ukraine. I focus on ideologies of language, including beliefs about language in general and attitudes towards particular linguistic usages, to discover how boundaries are drawn onto linguistic variability. The ways in which people ascribe correctness, purity, prestige and power to various linguistic forms reveal how language categories, namely “Ukrainian” and “Russian,” and their associated national identities, are constructed and manipulated in the process of nationbuilding. The findings presented are based on two years of fieldwork in Ukraine in 1991-92 and 1994-95, consisting of a language attitude (matched-guise) test, survey, participant observation, taped interviews, and archival and media research. The test and survey were administered to 2,000 respondents in three regions of Ukraine, Lviv, Kyiv, and Dnipropetrovsk. The test documented unconscious attitudes toward Ukrainian, Russian, and English languages, including varieties with non-standard pronunciations of Ukrainian and Russian. The survey gathered information on education, ethnic background, language use, and conscious language ideologies. I have found that there has been a general shift in language use and ideology, with Ukrainian (the official state language since 1990) used more widely and accorded greater prestige than during the Soviet period. This is a striking change given the long history of Russian language domination, which led Ukrainian to be widely regarded as a backward peasant language. I argue that the availability of English as an international language, as an alternate to Russian, facilitated the displacement of Russian by Ukrainian in many spheres. I also examine the language varieties that “mix” or “blend” Ukrainian and Russian, referred to by the general term “surzhyk,” and the social conditions that fostered their development. These nonstandard forms have received much negative attention in daily discussions and in the media. I conclude that destabilized linguistic hegemony has led to widespread contestation of linguistic correctness as a key element in the negotiation of status and identity.
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This is Chapter 1 of "Choosing a Mother Tongue: The Politics of Language and Identity in Ukraine." This book presents a sociocultural linguistic analysis of discourses of conflict, as well as an examination of how linguistic identity is embodied, negotiated and realized during a time of war. It provides new insights regarding multilingualism among Ukrainians in Ukraine and in the diaspora of New Zealand, the US and Canada, and sheds light on the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on language attitudes among Ukrainians around the world. Crucially, it features an analysis of a new movement in Ukraine that developed during the course of the conflict – ‘changing your mother tongue’, which embodies what it is to renegotiate linguistic identity. It is of value to researchers, faculty, and students in the areas of linguistics, Slavic studies, history, politics, anthropology, sociology and international affairs, as well as those interested in Ukrainian affairs more generally.
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The Ukrainian-Russian relationship is examined in this paper amid Ukraine’s identity crisis, focusing on the historical trajectory, promotion of the Ukrainian language, and implications of continuous use of the Russian language in Ukraine. A thorough but careful look at the linguistic contact history reveals crisis sources influenced by Ukraine’s geography and politics. Russian dominance, especially in the Soviet era, eroded Ukrainian language and identity, sparking debates on linguistic, social, and political implications. The impact of Russian on Ukrainian identity raises concerns about cultural preservation. Recent efforts prioritise Ukrainian language promotion to revive identity, addressing tensions from linguistic differences. Language becomes a geopolitical tool, amplifying the identity crisis. The political and social consequences of language choice are creating divisions in Ukrainian society today. This article concludes by emphasising the need to address the identity crisis in Ukraine through fostering linguistic diversity, inclusivity, and respect for both Russian and Ukrainian languages.
EVERYDAY RELIGIOSITY AND THE POLITICS OF BELONGING IN UKRAINE
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Ukrainian politicians commonly say that the language issue only comes up during election campaigns, but then these same politicians have also come to blows in the parliament over this issue. This suggests that deep-seated and unresolved concerns lie at the heart of the language issue. To appreciate these we need to look at who actually uses which language, and the different cultural and political agendas behind one’s choice of language.
‘Two Ukraines’ Reconsidered: The End of Ukrainian Ambivalence?
Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 2015
The 2014 Russo-Ukrainian war, euphemistically called the 'Ukraine crisis', has largely confirmed, on certain accounts, a dramatic split of the country and people's loyalties between the proverbial 'East' and 'West', between the 'Eurasian' and 'European' ways of development epitomized by Russia and the European Union. By other accounts, however, it has proved that the Ukrainian nation is much more united than many experts and policymakers expected, and that the public support for the Russian invasion, beyond the occupied regions of Donbas and Crimea, is close to nil. This article does not deny that Ukraine is divided in many respects but argues that the main-and indeed the only important-divide is not between ethnic Russians and Ukrainians, or Russophones and Ukrainophones, or the 'East' and the 'West'. The main fault line is ideological-between two different types of Ukrainian identity: non/anti-Soviet and post/neo-Soviet, 'European' and 'East Slavonic'. All other factors, such as ethnicity, language, region, income, education, or age, correlate to a different degree with the main one. However divisive those factors might be, the external threat to the nation makes them largely irrelevant, bringing instead to the fore the crucial issue of values epitomized in two different types of Ukrainian identity. * Mykola Riabchuk is a research fellow at the Institute of Political and Nationalities' Studies of the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv. His books and articles on nation-state building, nationalism, national identity, and post-communist transformations in Eastern Europe, primarily in Ukraine, have been published in both Ukrainian and a number of other languages, including Polish, German, French, and English.
Language and Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine: Transformation of an Unbroken Bond
Australian and New Zealand Journal of European Studies, Vol. 2013 5(2), pp. 14-23, 2014
Language has traditionally been a crucial component of Ukrainian identity. Given the lack of independent statehood, Ukrainian identity was primarily ethnocultural rather than civic. However, the contradictory policies of the Soviet regime produced a large-scale discrepancy between the language use and ethnocultural identity. Moreover, independence boosted Ukrainian civic identity and stimulated reconsideration of its relationship with the ethnocultural identity of the titular group. Although the Ukrainian language occupies a special place in both main versions of Ukrainian identity, it has to be reconciled with the continued reliance on Russian of about half of Ukraine’s citizens. At the same time, the perception of oneself as Ukrainian is gradually shifting from ethnocultural to civic, particularly among the young generations raised in independent Ukraine. Last but not least, the escalation of an identity struggle in the wake of the Orange Revolution led to different dynamics in the two parts of the country.