Shifting Language Policies and Practices in the Shadow of the War in Ukraine (I)

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

The ongoing war in Ukraine affects the language situation in the Baltic states and international communication about it. The panel combines six individual presentations to discuss the changes in language policy, language use, and linguistic attitudes caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine. More specifically it will focus on the changes in linguistic makeup of public information, linguistic behaviors of the local population, language choices and linguistic experiences of new migrants, and the local population’s attitudes towards Ukrainian and Russian.

1. Patriotic and Nationalist Orientations in the Civic Education: The Case of Latvia
2. Language Dynamics in the Diaspora: Shifting Language Attitudes among Ukrainian War Refugees in Lithuania
3. Leveraging Mediated Receptive Multilingualism: A Case Study of Estonian-Ukrainian Communication
4. Derussification Strategies in the Management of Public Information: The Case of Latvia and Ukraine
5. Latvian Protests against the Russian War in Ukraine: Changing Semiotics and Language Policies Throughout a Year of Terror
6. Discourses of National Security about Migrant Crisis at the Latvia-Belarus Border

Short Bio

Dr. Ieva Berzina is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security and Strategic Studies, National Academy of Defense of the Republic of Latvia, and an Associated Professor at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences. She obtained a Ph.D. in political science (comparative politics) from the University of Latvia. Her doctoral thesis compared Western political consulting techniques with Russian political technology and explored their impact on political campaigning practice in Latvia. Her current research interests cover such interdisciplinary areas as comprehensive national defense, strategic communication, Russia’s strategy and communication, patriotism and nationalism.

Dr. Ineta Dabašinskienė is a professor of Linguistics at the Department of Lithuanian Studies and the head of the Research Centre for Multilingualism at Vytautas Magnus University. Her research interests include, but are not limited to language policy and multilingualism, monolingual and bilingual language acquisition, heritage language, language education, as well as grammar and pragmatics of spoken language.

Dr. Alona Shyba is an associate professor and the head of the Baltic Studies Centre at Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University and the researcher of the Research Centre for Multilingualism at Vytautas Magnus University. Her scientific interests are language attitude and foreign languages teaching and learning.

Anna Branets is a Ph.D. student at the University of Tartu (Estonia). Research interests comprise such topics as sociolinguistics, multilingualism, namely receptive multilingualism, comprehension between languages, and L3 language acquisition. She focuses on Ukrainian, Russian, and Estonian cases. The title of her Ph.D. project is “Facilitation of Language Learning: The Twin Effects of Mediated Receptive Multilingualism and Meta-Communicative Practices”.

Sub Unit

• Literature and Linguistics

Chair

• Solvita Burr, University of Latvia

Discussant

• Anna Brodsky, Washington and Lee University

Individual Presentations

• Patriotic and Nationalist Orientations in the Civic Education: The Case of Latvia - Ieva Bērziņa, National Defence Academy of Latvia; Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences

• Language Dynamics in the Diaspora: Shifting Language Attitudes among Ukrainian War Refugees in Lithuania - Ineta Dabašinskienė, Vytautas Magnus University; Alona Shyba, Vytautas Magnus University

• Leveraging Mediated Receptive Multilingualism: A Case Study of Estonian-Ukrainian Communication - Anna Branets, University of Tartu