In the Ukrainian case the Ukrainian language seems to be the most obvious identity marker, used by the government to create a stronger national identity in the country by introducing specific linguistic policies . Why is that?
National Identity in Ukraine
First of all, it is essential to state the significance of the national identity issue in the context of the current conflict in eastern Ukraine, escalated, besides other reasons, because of the crisis within the country. After the period of the rule and pressure of Russia over the country and its influence that to a certain extent imposed Russification because of the soviet policies, Ukraine naturally wants to have its own way and to stop being perceived as “a younger brother” of Russia. …show more content…
For supporting and strengthening the national identity, focused on being different, the Ukrainian language seems to be the most obvious distinguishing feature and a reason for national pride that makes Ukraine different and unique.
Although the language is clearly not the only thing that divides the nation, it is still an important factor for defining the national identity of a person, which is a universal fact. The language is usually identified with a particular nation . Moreover, culture and identity of the nation are expressed in the language, which represents “the sum totality of ideas, values, beliefs, attitudes, preju¬dices, myths, religious strictures, and all the other cultural ‘baggage’ that speakers bring to their dealings with language from their culture” …show more content…
The law on the language in education did lead to a noticeable change. For instance, while after the collapse of the Soviet Union about 50 percent of students attended classes in Ukrainian, it is estimated that by the year 2003 this figure was 74 percent. The Russian language and literature were no longer paid that much attention with Russian writers being called “foreign writers” and included in the world literature course programs. Since the majority of schools in Ukraine are public, they received governmental funding and supplies of new textbooks that introduced Ukrainian, European
National Identity in Ukraine
First of all, it is essential to state the significance of the national identity issue in the context of the current conflict in eastern Ukraine, escalated, besides other reasons, because of the crisis within the country. After the period of the rule and pressure of Russia over the country and its influence that to a certain extent imposed Russification because of the soviet policies, Ukraine naturally wants to have its own way and to stop being perceived as “a younger brother” of Russia. …show more content…
For supporting and strengthening the national identity, focused on being different, the Ukrainian language seems to be the most obvious distinguishing feature and a reason for national pride that makes Ukraine different and unique.
Although the language is clearly not the only thing that divides the nation, it is still an important factor for defining the national identity of a person, which is a universal fact. The language is usually identified with a particular nation . Moreover, culture and identity of the nation are expressed in the language, which represents “the sum totality of ideas, values, beliefs, attitudes, preju¬dices, myths, religious strictures, and all the other cultural ‘baggage’ that speakers bring to their dealings with language from their culture” …show more content…
The law on the language in education did lead to a noticeable change. For instance, while after the collapse of the Soviet Union about 50 percent of students attended classes in Ukrainian, it is estimated that by the year 2003 this figure was 74 percent. The Russian language and literature were no longer paid that much attention with Russian writers being called “foreign writers” and included in the world literature course programs. Since the majority of schools in Ukraine are public, they received governmental funding and supplies of new textbooks that introduced Ukrainian, European