Article: The Long War over the Ukrainian Language (Peterson, 2014)

The Russo-Ukrainian War officially began late February 2014. While tensions in this war have recently escalated as President Putin of Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine, the battle between Russia and Ukraine started a long time prior to 2014. In 1863, there was a Russian rule suspending religious and educational texts in Ukrainian in an attempt to condemn the “Little Russian” language that was formed by the “illiterate peasants” (Peterson, 2014). These attacks purposely degrade the language and identity of the Ukrainian people. Russia banned the public use of Ukrainian altogether in 1876 (Peterson, 2014). Then, during the 1920-1930s, Stalin enforced Russification, or the rewriting of dictionaries to purge the Ukrainian language from the country. 

The Ukrainian language resembles centuries of linguistic and demographic oppression. Most Ukrainians are bilingual and speak fluent Russian and Ukrainian. They are dynamic bilinguals who use both languages in different contexts and know how and when to shift languages (Proctor, 2018). Russians claim to understand Ukrainian but only do so in an attempt to demote the language to a Russian dialect. Most Russians struggle to comprehend Ukrainian and would be considered linguistic interdependent bilinguals who may be able to recognize the meaning of words due to similarities with their own language (Proctor, 2018). 

The history of the Russian versus Ukrainian languages bear similarities to how America banned the use of Native American languages and created Native American boarding schools (Homza, 2021). Russians view the Ukrainian language as being uncivilized and feel they must assimilate Ukrainians. Ukrainians on the other hand have reclaimed their culture and language and have used it to repair the broken circle of cultural loss and pain caused by Russia (Homza, 2021). Ukrainian is not simply a language; it is a culture, a social movement, complex social history, and above all, a beacon for independence.  

Homza, A. (2021). Education of Immigrant Students. https://bostoncollege.instructure.com/courses/1627913/pages/7-dot-2-key-concepts-wednesday?module_item_id=18008199

Leider, C.M., Proctor, P. & Silverman, R. (2018) Language growth trajectories: Does immigrant generation status moderate linguistic interdependence? International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 

Peterson, B. (2014). The long war over the Ukrainian language . BostonGlobe.com. https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/03/15/the-long-war-over-ukrainian-language/HXlLbK9wVnhwGShNVPKIUP/story.html