Bilingualism in Ukraine: Value or Challenge?

Abstract

Summary 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.

Linguistic landscapes in a Western Ukranian town

“…First, numerous ethnic groups live in Berehove side by side; a significant feature in multiethnicity studies. The multiethnic character of the settlement has not formed over the past 10-20 years, but over a much more extended period (Csernicskó -Orosz 1999, Csernicskó -Máté 2017. Numerous ethnic groups live side by side, not only in the settlement under analysis; this characteristic is true of the whole region -Transcarpathia.…”

Politics of street names and the reinvention of local heritage in the contested urban space of Oradea

“…2008;Dragoman, D. 2011;Csernicskó, I. and Máté, R. 2017). The majority ethnic group, as the possessor of power is in a more favourable position to control and/or limit the access of minorities to be visually present in the cityscape.…”