Випуск 11 (Спеціальний випуск)

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Browsing Випуск 11 (Спеціальний випуск) by Subject "language ideology"

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    Favorite Letter: Shifts in Language Ideologies as Reflections of Overcoming Postcolonial Ambivalence in Wartime
    (2025) Kobchenko, Natalia
    Background. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, besides all traumatic consequences for Ukrainian society, has led to fundamental shifts in self-awareness and self-identification of Ukrainians, and these shifts have been reflected in language ideologies. In addition to explicit changes regarding the switching of a significant percentage of Russophone Ukrainians to the Ukrainian language, there have also been profound changes concerning rethinking the role of language in constructing identity and preserving statehood. Contribution to the research field. This study serves as a case analysis examining the development of language ideologies within a postcolonial society through their expression in various textual and visual representations of a single symbol— the letter "ї", which has emerged as a symbol of the Ukrainian language and a marker of its distinctiveness. The importance and originality of this study lie in the fact that it helps us to understand the cultural and psychological shifts in society during the period of a unique historical experience: from the formal liberation from colonial dependence to the time of armed resistance to recolonization. Purpose. This study aims to analyze language ideologies of Ukrainians represented by the letter "ї" from 1991 to the present day and find out how they reflect different modes of thinking regarding colonial experience, its realization and overcoming. Methods. The research methodology is based on the theoretical framework of such interdisciplinary fields as postcolonial studies, language ideology, and critical discourse analysis. Taking into account the diversity of empirical material, in addition, certain insights of graphic linguistics, studies of linguistic landscape, and geosemiotics have been added to the research tools. Results. Until February 24, 2022, the language ideologies of Ukrainian society represented by the letter "ї" reflected a state of postcolonial ambivalence. The language ideologies of uniqueness, attitude towards the language as a national treasure, and sacralization conveyed an anticolonial mode of thinking, as they were aimed at denying Soviet narratives about inferiority, provincialism, and the unprestigious status of the Ukrainian language. Meanwhile, the ideology of femininity expressed the colonial way of thinking directly as it embodied a view of oneself from the colonizer’s perspective. The language ideologies of weakness and endangerment as a legacy of being under the control of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union were triggered by the strong position of the Russian language in the public space. After February 24, 2022, the language ideologies of femininity, weakness, and endangerment represented by the letter "ї" have been displaced by ideologies of masculinity, strength, and resistance, broadcasting anticolonial thinking. At the same time, certain tendencies testify to the decolonization of thinking as well: 1) the attitude towards language as a national treasure (a feature of postcolonial societies) has changed to a pragmatic attitude (as a means of communication); 2) the ideology of uniqueness has not been based on the opposition to the Russian language but instead realized in a global context, which evidences a departure from the cognitive dichotomy "colonizer – colonized"; 3) the role of the Ukrainian language in constructing identity and maintaining sovereignty has transited from symbolic to practical. Discussion. In Ukraine, the process of overcoming colonialism and coloniality unfolds in a non-linear way. After formal liberation from political dependence in 1991, the period of postcolonial ambivalence, which is inherent in the coexistence of anticolonial and colonial modes of thinking, occurred. After Russia’s full-scale invasion, the process of decolonization was activated, which coincides with anticolonial resistance that is reflected in thinking as well, in particular in the transformation of linguistic ideologies.
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    Language Ideology and Language Planning in Wartime Ukraine: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities
    (2025) Azhniuk, Bohdan
    Background. War as a specific social context has a powerful influence on the linguistic consciousness and linguistic behavior of Ukrainians, affecting their cognitive activity and the resources of nominative means of the Ukrainian language. Over the period of nearly three decades since Ukrainian independence, considerable attention was paid in discussions on language policy to finding compromise solutions for granting Russian some official status. After February 24, 2022, the issue of giving the Russian language any status disappeared from the public agenda. The war has not only strengthened Ukrainian as a marker of the country’s national identity, but it also deeply influenced Ukrainians’ perceptions of the "us vs. them" opposition, and many Ukrainians who had previously communicated mainly in Russian switched to Ukrainian in an attempt to emphasize their Ukrainian national identity. Contribution to the research field. The Ukrainian language, as a symbolic marker of the nation, is associated not only with the national ethnographic heritage, but also with a certain type of political culture that distinguishes Ukraine from Russia. This finding has important implications for predicting the effects of the current language policy and for developing a language ideology that reflects not only perceptions of the current state of the language but also what it should be or what it should become in the future. Purpose. The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) to explore how beliefs about language mediate the relationship between language use and social organization in the circumstances of Russian military aggression against Ukraine, and (2) to provide an assessment of the current state and future prospects of language planning in Ukraine, particularly regarding ideological interaction among the major agents of language policy. Methods. The article applies the participant-observation method, the critical discourse analysis method, the content analysis method, and language policy documentation analysis. Results. In postcolonial societies, language ideologies are constantly constructed and re-constructed in discursive interactions at the micro and macro levels. The role of language ideology as a regulator of language behavior is particularly significant at the grassroots level, where the influence of official norms and regulations does not reach or is very weak. This allows language ideologies to perform social work. Discussion. Ideological consensus and practical cooperation among the state authorities, the mass media, the academic community, and the representatives of civil society have greatly contributed to the replacement of the assimilationist ideology of Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism with the "one nation, one language" ideology. The Ukrainian language is increasingly becoming a supraethnic as a means of communication not only for the Ukrainian ethnic group but also for a wide range of citizens of different nationalities.