Variation #7
By KS Lack
Print: Artist Proof 1/10
Frame: pages from a Ukrainian-language book
Ukrainian is an East Slavic language in the Indo-European language family, alongside Russian and Belarusian. These languages are related in a way similar to the way Portuguese and Spanish, both Ibero-Romance languages, are connected. However, while no one argues that Portuguese is merely a dialect of Spanish, Ukrainian has historically been marginalized as “dialect” of Russian.
Ukrainian has faced two key historical challenges: it was the tongue of a disenfranchised people, and most of its speakers came from the peasantry. As a peasant language, it was primarily oral, surviving as a spoken language rather than a written one. Even after education became widely available, Ukrainian was rarely taught in schools. This was not only because the language was considered inferior but also because depriving a people of their language has been a common method of repression throughout history. The rise of nationalism and the emergence of writers like Taras Shevchenko and Lesya Ukrainka in the 18th century helped establish Ukrainian’s distinct identity as a language. Yet it continued to be used as a political tool—either repressed or promoted, depending on the goals of the ruling elites—until the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Russian and Ukrainian coexisted relatively peacefully during the first few decades of Ukrainian independence. Then the language battle resurfaced as a fault line during President Yanukovych’s rise to power in the the 2010s, when his party alleged discrimination against Russian speakers—claims now known to have been at least partially fabricated by Moscow.(A) Russia’s invasion has temporarily shelved this debate: speaking Russian has become anathema to many Ukrainians, including native Russian speakers.
The areas currently occupied by Russia offer insight to the fate of the Ukrainian language if Ukraine loses this war. Ukrainian is no longer being taught in schools or universities. People are pressured to speak only Russian. Books in Ukrainian are confiscated and destroyed. Children are being abducted and sent to Russia for indoctrination.(B) The message is clear: for Putin’s claim that Ukraine and Russia are “one people” to become a reality, the Ukrainian language, like its people, must be eradicated.
A) For more on Russia’s disinformation campaigns, see Variation #3.
B) For more on the plight of Ukraine’s children, see Variation #1.
See below for further reading and background. Data updated September 2024.
Ukrainian Language Supplementary Materials, Illinois University Library.
10 Things To Know About The Ukrainian Language, Ukraine World, 29 Feb 24.
Muted Tongues: A Timeline of Suppressed Languages, e-flux Journal, Issue #131 Nov 22.
Chronology of Ukrainian language suppression, Wikipedia article.
War of words: a history of Ukraine’s language debate, The Spectator, 8 Oct 22.
Ukrainians are breaking their ties with the Russian language, The Washington Post, 28 July 23.
How Russia has attempted to erase Ukrainian language, culture throughout centuries, The Kyiv Independent, 3 May 24.
Article by Vladimir Putin: "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians”, Widely available online. 12 July 21.