Post-Soviet language policy and the language utilization patterns of Kyivan youth: Case study of a bilingual society in transition

The present study reports on research based on two extended periods of on-site data collection reflecting language use in Ukrainian and Russian language-based schools in Kyiv, Ukraine (1995--1996, 1998). The study represents the first empirically based analysis of language shift and utilization patterns since the promulgation of the language policy resolutions and guidelines of the Ukrainian Ministry of Education beginning in 1991, and re-affirmed in the 1996 Constitution of the Ukrainian Republic.; This research examines whether language shift from Russian to Ukrainian is currently taking place in Ukraine, specifically Kyiv. In January 1998 a survey was given to students (grades 2--11) attending Ukrainian and Russian language-based schools. This survey focused on student biographical data, native language, home language (spoken with parents and grandparents), student interactive language (used to address friends; salespeople; and to ask for directions on the street), as well as student interpretative language (used to read and watch television). Based on the concept that language shift occurs over three generations (Fishman, 1966, Kostomarov, 1994), 1292 student responses were analyzed to determine whether language shift to Ukrainian or language maintenance of Russian and/or Ukrainian is occurring in Kyiv today. Quantitative analyses focused on age/grade level cohorts, base-language schools, and home language. Additional analyses investigated factors contributing to and inhibiting the Ukrainianization process.; In Ukraine, prior to the break up of the Soviet Union, language policy favored the maintenance and promotion of Russian, at the expense of Ukrainian (Prizel, 1994). However, in 1989 the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet declared Ukrainian as the official language of Ukraine and passed the Law on Languages, and later expanded on it with educational policies intended to bring about the return of the Ukrainian language through such methods as designating Ukrainian language study a compulsory subject in all schools, decreasing the number of Russian schools, increasing the number of Ukrainian schools, and requiring students to pass a Ukrainian proficiency test upon graduation. Recent and current, language policies establish an environment in which native Ukrainian speakers maintain their mother tongue, while Russian utilization is most strongly preserved among those who have Russian across the three generations.*; *Originally published in DAI Vol. 61, No. 4. Reprinted here with corrected abstract.