Lard-eaters, gay-ropeans, sheeple and prepositions: lexical and syntactic devices employed to position the other in Russian online political forums

The study focuses on the linguistic means employed by Russians in online political message boards to position both the political self and the political other in a time of crisis. It investigates how insults and the prepositional choice of either v/na + Ukraine were used to demarcate socio-political identity boundaries. The paper highlights the typologically different insults used by each group to position the other politically and then proceeds to examine how prepositional choice is employed to position the political self. Data were gathered from two online news platforms – svoboda.org and slon.ru – dating from the beginning of February 2014 to the end of March 2014 and focus on the discourse of two polarised political groups of commenters – pro-Kremlin and anti-Kremlin. It is a mixed methodological approach drawing on comments posted in response to 361 articles by 476 separate posters. The data are subsequently analysed according to positioning theory within the paradigm of computer-mediated discourse

Linguistic landscapes on the other side of the border: signs, language and the construction of cultural identity in Transnistria

In 1992, Transnistria emerged as a de facto independent political entity, not recognized internationally. Russian emerged as a strong marker of a distinct cultural and political identity and as a powerful tool of separation from Moldova. Officially, Transnistria is trilingual in Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian (Moldovan) written in Cyrillic script, yet Russian is the language of choice for most inhabitants. This article presents a linguistic landscape study that sheds light on language use by institutional and private actors in Transnistria, exemplified by signs in the republic's mainly Russian-speaking capital Tiraspo

Участь просвітян в організації церковних з’їздів на Волині у 20- 30-х рр. ХХ ст.

The article highlights the role of the members of ««Prosvita»» society in the development of the national and church movement on the territory of Volyn region during 20–30-ies of the 20th century, aimed at the democratization and ukrainization of the church and religious life. The importance of the church congresses for the resurgence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Poland was investigated.У статті проаналізовано процес українізації церковного устрою в контексті розвитку національно- церковного руху української православної громади Волині у 20-30-х рр. ХХ ст. На підставі урахування суспільно- політичних, етноконфесійних, внутріцерковних та регіональних особливостей доводиться, що національно- церковний рух на Волині міжвоєнного періоду взаємопов’язаний із якісним процесом національної ідентифікації українського народу

Informal signs as expressions of multilingualism in Chisinau: how individuals shape the public space of a post-Soviet capital

Informal and transient displays of written language such as graffiti, announcements and notes attached to walls and lampposts form an integral part of an urban linguistic landscape. Especially within multilingual contexts, individuals constantly shape the public space by the languages they use and make language choices that do not always reflect official language policies, commonly held perceptions or the demographic makeup within a certain area. The capital of the Republic of Moldova, Chisinau, proves to be an interesting area of research here, as - apart from a Romanian-speaking majority - the city is home to a large share of speakers of Russian, a language long considered to be the lingua franca of the country. The aim of the current study is to analyse signs made by private individuals that are not part of shop fronts or billboards, namely those that are found all over the city and advertise for language courses, work opportunities abroad or express political opinions. The quantitative basis of the study is made up of two corpora with over 750 different items from various parts of Chisinau surveyed in 2009 and 2010 both in the centre of the city as well as in suburban residential areas. For better traceability and to ensure transparency in linguistic landscape analysis, the 2010 corpus is accessible online. The survey shows that Russian is widely used as a local lingua franca, contradicting official policies that declare Romanian Moldovan the sole national languag

Ukraine–Hungary: the intensifying dispute over the Hungarian minority’s rights. OSW Commentary NUMBER 280 | 14.08.2018

For nearly one year relations between Hungary and Ukraine have been plunged in the worst crisis since the collapse of the USSR. The main cause of the tension has been the Education Act passed by the Ukrainian parliament in September 2017 which envisages a comprehensive reform of the education system and at the same time imposes serious restrictions on the use of the languages of national minorities, including Hungarian, in school education. In response to this, Budapest severely criticised Kyiv and took measures to block the establishment of closer relations between Ukraine and NATO, insisting that the act be changed. In turn, Ukraine took steps to soften Budapest’s stance and asked the Venice Commission to evaluate the act and then declared that it would follow the recommendations provided in the evaluation. The deficit of trust which has existed for years and the fact that neither of the parties had taken real steps to reach a compromise prevented them from reaching an agreement that had seemed close in May and June this year. The conflict was escalated further when the Hungarian government appointed a ministerial commissioner for the development of Zakarpattia Oblast (in Ukraine), which met with a harsh reaction from Kyiv and was interpreted as interfering with Ukraine’s internal affairs. The dispute over the Hungarian minority’s rights in Ukraine is about historical and identity related issues that are very important to both sides, and it is highly unlikely that it will be resolved in the coming months. While these issues have always been at the core of Budapest’s foreign policy, especially with regard to the countries where the Hungarian minorities live, Kyiv neglected them until 2014. However, since the Russian annexation of Crimea and the aggression in the Donbass, Ukraine has been taking comprehensive measures aimed at decommunisation and derussification. The consequences of this include on the one hand a Ukrainisation of the public space, the media and the education system, and on the other restricting national minorities’ rights in Ukraine as regards the use of their language in the education system. For those reasons, both sides are likely to firmly stick to their stances and to be looking for current political benefits resulting from the conflict rather than taking action to reach a compromise

Проект "міжмовних відносин" та "мовної політики" в рамках проекту "Національного відродження 90-х років"

У статті представлено аспекти сучасної мовної політики в Україні в ракурсі уточнення сценарію міжмовних відносин та розгляду типу державного утворення, до якого належить Україна, та який сформувався після краху всіх типів радянських Утопій. Проаналізовано феномен утопій, розглянуто утопічні проекти в Україні як спроби сформувати певну реальність в ситуації тотальної віртуалізації. Визначено характерні прикмети та етапи "українізації", а також наслідки радянської "русифікації". Розглянуто різні форми українсько-російської диглосії у ситуації міжмовних відносин в Україні

Bilingualism in Ukraine: Value or Challenge?

Several analyses have summarized the linguistic situation o f 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 constru cting 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 addit ion 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 a ttitude 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 l anguage and the (free and independent) Ukrainian nation the same nowadays strongly dominates in Ukraine

Decolonizing Kyiv’s politics of memory: current and potential implications of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine on Ukrainian monuments and toponyms.

History is the basis of our identity, but it sometimes represents a trap. As well explained by Keith Lowe, monuments are representative of our values, and every society deludes itself that its values will be everlasting. However, in a world changing at an unprecedented pace while we move on, urban furnishment such as monuments or streets’ names remain frozen in time. Statues and toponyms that were erected and chosen a long time ago may no longer be representative of the values we now treasure. While Russia’s aggression is still raging, a lot has been written on the potential implications of the war in Ukraine in several fields such as global economy, energy and food security. Still, at a time in which the relationship between memory and politics is coming to the fore in the field of IR, an in-depth study of the consequences of the war on Ukraine’s politics of memory appears to be virtually essential. To close this gap, this paper aims at providing an overview of how the war has influenced Ukraine’s politics of memory, especially by focusing on urban spaces such as monuments and topography. Drawing from the theoretical background on collective memory, first, the concepts of “memory” and “place” will be investigated by specifically looking at memory sites and building on Langenbacher and Yossi’s idea of “infrastructure of memory”. Second, we analyze the changing environment triggered by Russia’s aggression and actions such as the removal of Catherine the Great’s monument in Odesa or the renaming of the former Victory Square in Kyiv. Russia’s war on Ukraine has in fact accelerated a process of decolonization of memory which had begun with the post-Communist transition. Ukraine is now determined to revive its national identity which has long been subjugated. Third, we draw conclusions by reflecting on which turn Ukraine’s memory politics may take by analyzing hints provided by high-profile officials such as Zelensky or Klitschko. For instance, a reinterpretation of periods such as the Cossack Hetmanate, Kievan Rus’ and Ukraine People’s Republic or episodes linked to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army may be implemented with the emergence of new monuments or street names

The Prospect of the Russian Language in Georgia. Insights from the Educated Youth

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the status of the Russian language in the new-born Republics became a central issue. In the Southern Caucasus, all the Constitutions promulgated by the three Republics opted for ethnocentric language policies that accepted the titular language as the only State Language. However, the role of the Russian language as a lingua franca remained crucial for international communication and everyday interaction. It followed that it continued to play an important role also in education. The present study focuses on Georgia, where a strong derussification policy has taken place in the last decades and aims at understanding to what extent the use of Russian among the young generations has contracted. In particular, we present an analysis conducted on data collected via (i) a survey for young people consisting of questions on their sociolinguistic background and a proficiency test in Russian, and (ii) semi-structured interviews for teachers of Russian and English as Foreign Languages on the research topics