week 10

Question 1

USSR: (1922-1991) union of 15 republics had the goal of building egalitarian communist society, transcending linguistic and ethnic differences

Answer 1

• established in 1922
• goal was to build a society where no one could exploit another person, and everyone worked for the common good
• dissolved in 1991
• communist party
• russian: de facto dominant language

Question 2

Diglossia in the USSR

Answer 2

• Russian = high language, used in gov, international relations, military
• higher education, science
• better education (more resources), better jobs
• considered more cultured, more advanced

non-russian languages like Armenian, Kazakh, Ukrainian = low language
- considered backward, of limited use, less developed, not prestigious associated with peasantry
- folk culture, songs
- politically risky

Question 3

Diglossia: High language; Low language

Answer 3

• 2 or more coexisting languages (bilingualism) with diff language roles/functions
• high language: prestigious, official, formal
• low language: low prestige, unofficial, informal

Question 4

Soviet policies of Russification, through privilege and direct intervention

Answer 4

• holodomor (death by hunger) extermination of Ukrainians by hunger (artificial famine) to break resistance to soviet regime, millions killed
• system of privileges in favor of russian
• direct manipulation of Ukrainian language to make it more like russian (blacklisting specific letters, words, dictionaries revised)

Question 5

The fall of the USSR in 1991: 15 countries declared independence, declared titular state languages first

Answer 5

• 1990: each of soviet republics declared its titular language as the official state language
• closer to ideal 1 language = 1 nation model
• both pratical and symbolic separation
• cement independence from Russia
• effort to raise low status of titular language relative to russian

Question 6

Ukraine: location, basic demographics in terms of ethnicity & native language

Answer 6

• language use patterns are shaped not only by east/west also urban/rural

Question 7

Kyiv vs. Kiev, in Ukraine vs. in the Ukraine—the politics of place names

Answer 7

• kiev = had been “conventional spelling” (closer to Russian pronunciation)
• Kyviv = approved spelling of the US board of geographic names (Ukrainian pronunciation)

Question 8

Lexicon, lexical distance

Answer 8

• overall lexicon is 38% diff from russian
• 18% similar
• 44% same

Question 9

Forces shaping the relative statuses of Ukrainian and Russian in Ukraine

Question 10

Non-accommodating bilingualism

Answer 10

• everyone free to speak whichever language they prefer
• no matter what language others are speaking
• everyone expected to be at lease passively bilingual

Question 12

language choice is political

Answer 12

• it is a security issue
• russian is language of enemy and been used to justify invasion
• promoting Ukrainian helps fend off russian aggression: patriotic duty

Question 13

Role of language in processes of independence & nation-building in Ukraine

Question 14

Transparency & politicization of language in wartime in Ukraine: opposed tendencies: “language choice doesn’t matter” vs. “language choice is a security issue”

Answer 14

• Putin says he is protecting Russians and Russian speakers, as if the need to learn Ukrainian infringes on Russians’ rights in ukraine
• russian language became symbol of foreign occupation
• ## Putin denies Ukrainian as a language

Question 15

Language issue in Euromaidan protests & ongoing war between Ukraine & Russia

Answer 15

• movement for human rights and democracy, against corruption
• started in nov 2013
• ukraine regions where russian language dominates are fiercely resisting russian invasion

Question 16

constructing independent nationhood

Answer 16

possible areas to find legitimacy:
- language/culture
- religion
- civic/political allegiance, political system
- history (as a separate country)
- future (desired identity, belonging)

Question 17

Purism vs. “impure” or “mixed” languages; reasons for purism

Answer 17

• anti-surzhyk
• initial post-independence period
• low confidence in authority and authenticity of language

Question 18

Surzhyk (what is it, and attitudes towards it)

Answer 18

• language that mixes Ukrainian and russian standards
• pejorative term, associated with social marginality (lower class, lacking education)
• high degree of bilingualism

in pop culture:
- portrays lowness, depicts Ukrainian identity as ridiculous, vulgar, and crass

Question 19

mixed languages

Question 20

Reasons for linguistic conversion in Ukraine

Answer 20

• people construct their nation through themselves
• an ideological choice
• physically embodied choice: speaking is a physical activity
• freedom to shape one’s expression vs. the freedom of expression of one’s native language

Question 21

Ukrainian vs. russian

Answer 21

• legacy of imperialism: rhetoric of superior vs inferior culture
• violent suppression of Ukrainians
• disdain of Ukrainian as unworthy
• Ukrainian language as means of survival - reclaiming dignity
• Ukrainian symbolic of freedom; russian symbolic of authoritarian violence

Question 22

shibboleths

Answer 22

• custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class/group of people
• ï graffiti: symbol of resistance to russian occupation
  11/29/23
  19
  ï :monument to a unique
  Ukrainian le@er
  ï grafitti: symbol of resistance
  to Russian occupation
• Ї and Є: both letters in Ukrainian that are absent in russian means I exist/I is

Question 23

2019 law

Answer 23

• ensuring the functioning of Ukrainian as a state language
• required in public (not in private)
  special consideration for crimean tatar and other indigenous languages

Question 24

non standards in pop culture

Answer 24

• have revolutionary power, defying corrupt leadership and status quo

Question 25

structure, ideology, perception

Answer 25

• structure: forms, rules - defined through history, political processes
• ideology: overt & implicit beliefs about correctness and approriacy of words and grammar
• perception: depends on familiarity with learned structures and on attitudes of speaker and hearer