Idéologies linguistiques à l’Est de l’Ukraine à la suite du conflit russo-ukrainien de 2014: Représentations sociolinguistiques et choix de code intergroupes dans la ville de Kharkiv
Date
2020-07-06
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Abstract
This study explores the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the linguistic ideologies and practices of Russian-speaking Ukrainians from the city of Kharkiv, situated in the east of Ukraine, 30 kilometres from the border with Russia. Ukraine is a country with a single official language, Ukrainian, where as many as 40% of the eastern and southern population speak Russian as their first language. As Russia capitalized on the long-existing language issues at the start of the conflict in 2014, it is important to research how it influenced Russian-speaking Ukrainians. This conflict both polarized Ukrainian Russophones into competing ideological positions for or against Russia and gave fresh vigour to the linguistic debate in Ukraine. The Russian-speaking Kharkivites’ opposing political convictions and interpretations of the role of language in a nation-state affected their linguistic behaviour, motivating them to either attempt to switch to Ukrainian, to advocate bi- or multilingualism or to demonstratively use only Russian. I sought participants for my study based on these three language ideologies, determined by previous research and confirmed by my own observations. In my project, I used qualitative research methods, i.e. semi-structured interviews, which allowed me to obtain in-depth responses from participants. The field study was carried out in Kharkiv in the summer of 2018, where I interviewed 32 adult participants (an equal number of men and women) of different ages, levels of education and professions. The study results provide evidence of changes in the participants’ attitudes to Russian, Ukrainian, foreign languages and state language policy as well as shifts in their language practices and accommodation strategies of speakers of different language ideologies. As the study was carried out four years after the beginning of the conflict, its results also cast light on the evolution of language ideologies and behaviours over time.
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Critical sociolinguistics, Multilingualism, Linguistic ideologies and attitudes, Linguistic Nationalism and Intergroup Relationship, Language policy, Bilingual Accommodation.
Citation
Pletnyova, G. (2020). Idéologies linguistiques à l’Est de l’Ukraine à la suite du conflit russo-ukrainien de 2014: Représentations sociolinguistiques et choix de code intergroupes dans la ville de Kharkiv (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.