Throughout the twentieth century, inhabitants of Ukraine experienced many drastic changes in linguistic identity as a result of the establishment of the Soviet Union and the attempts to "unify" Russia with its neighboring countries and then once more when Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. As a result of shifting language policies, a situation has presented itself in which some Ukrainians claim Ukrainian as their native language, but not all. Others who feel they are ethnically Ukrainian speak Russian as their native language, and some even speak a variety of mixed language, which many native Ukrainians refer to as surzhyk.
Since Ukraine’s independence, political awareness of the current linguistic situation has led to the exclusive use of Ukrainian in an effort to help it reemerge as the official language of the state. Major recent policies have targeted the media especially, due to the fact that media has a major effect on populations, and it had previously been presented almost entirely in Russian. However, an interesting situation has developed in that media outlets are finding ways around these rules by having two presenters: one in Russian and one in Ukrainian, reflecting the linguistic divide in Ukraine. This overview of the current linguistic situation in Ukraine will serve to show the reasons for the current language policies and exactly how far these policies have extended.
Download file: seals_final.pdf