CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Mykhalchyk, Polina |
|---|---|
| Title | Can language construct a nation? The case of the Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine |
| Summary | This thesis investigates how the language policy contributes to the construction of the national identity in the case of the Russian linguistic minority in Ukraine. The Maidan revolution and the consequent conflict with Russia increased the political saliency of the Ukrainian language as the most important factor constituting the Ukrainian national identity. In 2019, the elites decided to implement the civic-nationalist language policy, which made the Ukrainian language dominant in the public sphere and at the same time weakened the position of the minority languages. This policy, designed to strengthen the Ukrainian national identity for its citizens, received an ambiguous reaction from the minorities. This thesis explores how the civic-nationalist language policy influences the Russian linguistic minority in Ukraine in terms of their language use and, consequently, their perception of the national identity. It discusses the factors that foster acceptance of the national language by the minority and analyses how the national identity is created through the language policy. This thesis uses nested analysis – a combination of quantitative (multivariate linear regressions) and qualitative methods (semi-structured interviews and theory-building process tracing) to offer a complex account of the impact of the civic-nationalist language policy. The key findings of this thesis are that the civic nationalist language policy has both positive and negative effects on the national identity depending on how it is reinterpreted by the members of the linguistic minority. |
| Supervisor | Melnykovska, Inna |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/mykhalchyk_polina.pdf |
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