The role of state language policy in shaping the humanitarian space (for example, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions)

Abstract

At the present stage of the process of state-building, one of the priorities of Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy is the formation of a single humanitarian space. The history of successful countries shows that the integrity of the humanitarian space is the key to their national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

State language policy directly influences the formation and condition of the Ukrainian humanitarian space and, conversely, the state of the humanitarian space demonstrates the effectiveness / inefficiency of the state’s language policy.

Despite numerous publications on the formation of humanitarian space, state language policy, there is no doctrinal and legal definition of humanitarian space today, there is no uniform terminology to describe the processes and phenomena in the humanitarian development of society, and the role of state language policy of Ukraine in shaping humanitarian affairs has not been systematically analyzed.

The survey analyzed data from a poll on respondents’ attitudes toward aspects of state language policy, such as the introduction of language quotas on television and the expansion of the use of the Ukrainian language in education. On the whole, it can be argued that the majority of the respondents support the state language policy in Ukraine in these aspects and approve the increased use of the Ukrainian language in public spheres.

The researchers’ assumption that Russian-speaking citizens are more likely to perceive Russian propaganda was not confirmed in this study, but it is necessary to take into account the overwhelming category of respondents – it is civil servants and officials of local self-government – 58 %, that is, representatives of those areas where the state language is implemented. the most active – through paperwork, public communication, conditions of admission to the position, etc. (nationwide survey was conducted among different population categories and gave the opposite result atm). On the other hand, most of the respondents live in the Russian-speaking area – more than 55 %, but give preference to the Ukrainian language.

We believe that the results of the study as a whole testify to the overwhelmingly positive result of the state language policy aimed at shaping the Ukrainian national consciousness and linguistic identity as components of the humanitarian space, especially in conditions of external aggression. At the same time, an important task of language policy in the future is to expand the use of Ukrainian as the state language, its demand, which should be a motivation for its study.