Contested Tongues: Language Politics and Cultural Correction in Ukraine

by Laada Bilaniuk

During the controversial 2004 elections that led to the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, cultural and linguistic differences threatened to break apart the country. Contested Tongues explains the complex linguistic and cultural politics in a bilingual country where the two main languages are closely related but their statuses are hotly contested. Laada Bilaniuk finds that the social divisions in Ukraine are historically rooted, ideologically constructed, and inseparable from linguistic practice. She does not take the labeled categories as givens but questions what "Ukrainian" and "Russian" mean to different people, and how the boundaries between these categories may be blurred in unstable times. Bilaniuk's analysis of the contemporary situation is based on ethnographic research in Ukraine and grounded in historical research essential to understanding developments since the fall of the Soviet Union. "Mixed language" practices (surzhyk) in Ukraine have generally been either ignored or reviled, but Bilaniuk traces their history, their social implications, and their accompanying ideologies. Through a focus on mixed language and purism, the author examines the power dynamics of linguistic and cultural correction, through which people seek either to confer or to deny others social legitimacy. The author's examination of the rapid transformation of symbolic values in Ukraine challenges theories of language and social power that have as a rule been based on the experience of relatively stable societies.

Genres: Ukraine, Anthropology, Language, History

248 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

Reviews

[Chandini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read chapters of this book over the past several years to supplement my background knowledge in Ukrainian language politics to be able to conduct my own research in the same area. I finally read the whole thing and as expected I could barely put it down. I found the surzhyk chapters more interesting than I expected and Chapter 2 with the interviews was my favorite. I could have read an entire book on just field work interviews. I know that this is an area of linguistics that I find particularly interesting but reading this felt so personal to me (reflecting on my own research and observations and participation in multilingual interactions in Ukraine) and especially exciting because it’s clear that everything in Bilaniuk’s life has lead her to being the person to be on the ground to witness and write so insightfully about the politics of language in Ukraine at the start of Ukraine’s independence after hundreds of years of Russian and Soviet repression. Everything written here is monumental and relevant to understanding Ukrainian language politics more than 2 decades later. There’s so much to learn about in the realms of politics, language ideologies, media, regional dialects and language mixing, history, etc. I’m glad to have finally read this in its entirety and it’s a great place to start as I get back into the world of linguistic research.

[Syntaxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sociolinguist and ethnographer Laada Bilaniuk explores the complex dynamics of language, identity, and power in post-Soviet Ukraine. Bilaniuk begins the book with an anecdote from her time in the field studying “mixed language,” also known as surzhyk, a hybrid of the Ukrainian and Russian languages. Bilaniuk examines surzhyk as a mixed language that holds complex sociolinguistic functions in Ukraine, and likely refrains from categorizing surzhyk as a pidgin due to its distinct characteristics and sociocultural context that differ from typical pidgin languages.

Using personal narratives from a variety of interlocutors, Bilaniuk further illustrates that surzhyk has deep political and cultural implications tied to Ukrainian identity and language politics. Pidgins generally form in neutral or colonial trade contexts, but surzhyk exists in a politically charged space, symbolizing Soviet-era cultural suppression. However, rather than merely facilitating communication, surzhyk embodies ongoing debates about Ukrainian identity, national language, and cultural authenticity.

Following Ukraine's independence in 1991, language became a key point of political and cultural struggle, reflecting broader debates over national identity and heritage. Bilaniuk analyzes how language policies and everyday language practices highlight underlying tensions between Ukrainian and Russian speakers, as well as efforts to establish Ukrainian as the national language. By contextualizing Ukraine’s language politics within its historical relationship with Russia—marked by Soviet-era policies that promoted Russian dominance and marginalized Ukrainian—Bilaniuk traces how these legacies have shaped post-independence efforts to 'de-Russify' Ukraine. She investigates legislative and cultural measures aimed at promoting Ukrainian in schools, media, and government. However, these efforts have often sparked tensions within Ukraine’s bilingual society, where many people navigate dual linguistic identities. Links are drawn between language and social identity, as individuals' language choices reflect their affiliations and beliefs; in daily interactions, Ukrainians often switch between Ukrainian and Russian, balancing practical communication with symbolic expressions of identity.

Bilaniuk uses case studies to show how language choices in Ukraine signal loyalty, resistance, or neutrality within a divided linguistic landscape. For example, Sofia, a woman in her fifties at the time of her interview (p. 42), shared stories about her teenage son, who avoided speaking Ukrainian around his peers. According to Sofia, 'in Kyiv, anyone who speaks Ukrainian is regarded as a village hick.' This reflects how people navigate the rural/urban divide through language, with speaking Russian seen as a marker of urban belonging (p. 48). A central theme in Bilaniuk’s analysis is 'cultural correction'—the reshaping of Ukrainian language and culture to create a national identity distinct from Russian influence. This includes linguistic purism efforts to remove Russian loanwords and promote what is considered 'pure' Ukrainian. Bilaniuk argues that such practices extend beyond language, functioning as ideological tools that affirm Ukrainian nationalism and fuel debates about what qualifies as 'real' Ukrainian. By unpacking the complexities of Ukrainian and Russian linguistic interaction, Bilaniuk traces how Ukrainian was ideologically constructed under Russian imperial rule.

Language politics in Ukraine remain fluid and contested, with the national and linguistic identities constantly evolving amid globalization and political shifts. Once marginalized as a 'low-culture' dialect or a degraded form of Russian (p.33), Ukrainian eventually became a powerful symbol of resistance, leading to official suppression in the 19th century. After a brief period of revival in the 1920s, the language faced renewed and aggressive Russification under Soviet rule. Bilaniuk’s work captures the way Ukrainian speakers navigate between their national language and Russian, reshaping these linguistic choices to express personal and collective identities. Her analysis highlights how Ukraine’s language politics serve as a lens through which broader struggles over cultural sovereignty and self-definition are reflected. She writes, 'language use is both a medium and a symbol of identity, as well as a contested marker of political allegiance' (p. 110), underscoring how deeply intertwined language and identity remain in Ukraine. Ultimately, Contested Tongues reveals that language in Ukraine is not merely a means of communication but a battleground in the ongoing assertion of Ukrainian resistance, resilience, and autonomy.