Revalorizing Ukrainian: Postcolonial Perspective on a Language Ideological Struggle

• In Event: Voices of Resilience: Reclaiming Language, Redefining Identity, and Re-imaging the Political Post-Soviet Landscape

Abstract

The colonialist language policies of the Russian Empire and the USSR left an enduring impact on Ukraine’s linguistic situation. Not only did it result in the decline of the titular language's use, but it also instilled the belief of its inferiority, rusticity, and worthlessness in the minds of many Ukrainians and their neighbors. The presentation aims to demonstrate and analyze the uneasy and contested process of revalorization of the Ukrainian language undertaken in the post-independence period, focusing on the discourse of intellectuals and its popular reception. A postcolonial perspective will be employed to examine how institutional, economic factors or armed aggression may influence the competing ideological projects.

Author

• Bartłomiej Piotr Chromik, U of Warsaw (Poland)