МОВНА АСИМІЛЯЦІЇ ПОЛЯКІВ НА ЖИТОМИРЩИНІ

Abstract

The article describes the historical and cultural conditions for the settlement of the territory of modern Zhytomyr region by the Poles. It is revealed that the Poles are one of the first national minorities who populated this territory. The Poles moved to Volyn, which included a significant part of modern Zhytomyr region, by several waves (in the 16th-17th centuries, the beginning of the 19th century). The Polish language actively functioned as one of the written languages on Ukrainian lands in the 16th–17th centuries, and until the end of the 18th century on the territory of the former Volyn. With the advent of tsarist Russia, the restrictions of the Polish national minority began, including the language: they could not open Polish-language schools, and teach Polish in educational institutions. Despite these circumstances, the Polish language functioned, and the literature works were written.The Polish people, most of all national minorities, have been assimilated into the Ukrainian language and the people. The national and linguistic self-identification of the Poles began declining from the first quarter of the 20th century, when the Poles began being restricted themselves to social and political rights. The decline of linguistic and national self-identification has been going on since the 1970s. The 2001 census indicates the opposite: the choice of Polish as a native language has increased. On the territory of Zhytomyr region, the linguistic assimilation of the Poles is higher than in Ukraine in general. The Polish ethnic minority, though not fully, can satisfy its cultural and informational needs (television, radio production, media, reading books), since there are Polish-language television and radio broadcasts and print editions in Zhytomyr.