War and language: language policy issues of Ukraine in domestic mass media discourse (2014 - 2022)

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to clarify the content of the media discourse on the full policy in Ukraine, to identify the main topics covered by the Ukrainian media, and to indicate the analytical and evaluative component of materials on reforms in the field of language policy. The chronological framework of the study (2014 – 2022) is determined by: a) the completion of the Revolution of Dignity and the coming to power of the pro-European governments in Ukraine, b) the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, which forced the Ukrainian government to reconsider traditional approaches to language policy. The research methodology is based on the principles of scientificity, systematicity, as well as the use of discourse analysis as an interdisciplinary approach to the study on mass media space. The scientific novelty: the content of media discourse on language policy in Ukraine during the current Russian-Ukrainian war has been studied for the first time. The Conclusions. Thus, the Ukrainian mass media focused on the language policy issues in Ukraine. The reasons for this were, on the one hand, the importance of resolving efficiently the issue on the ratio of the state language, the Russian language and the languages of the national minorities in Ukraine for the stability of society, on the other hand, aggravation of this issue under the conditions of the modern Russo-Ukrainian War, the ideological discourse of which included the myth of “oppression of the Russian language”. The Ukrainian mass media during the priod under analysis (2014 – 2012) focused on three key manifestations of the language policy: 1) conflicts regarding the abolition of the conflict-generating language law of 2012 (the Kivalov-Kolesnichnek law), as well as the development and public adoption of a new law on languages in Ukraine; 2) discussions on the legislative introduction of the language quotas for television, radio, and book publishing; 3) internal and external disputes about the language article of the law “On Education”. It should be recognized that the majority of the Ukrainian media outlets supported the language policy of the Ukrainian governments regarding the establishment of Ukrainian as the state language in Ukraine, although they tried to adhere to objective coverage of events and interpretation of the positions of political forces.