Languages in the cultural and information space of Zhytomyr region

Abstract

The article describes the national-linguistic self-identification of the residents of the northern region of Ukraine according to a mass survey conducted in 2017 within the framework of an international project, compared to the answers of students from Zhytomyr higher educational institutions to the questionnaire developed by the author and compared with the data of that region in 2006. The linguistic self-identification of Ukrainians in the Zhytomyr region is higher than that of the residents of the northern region as a whole, although Ukrainians identify themselves with approximately the same number of respondents – over 90% – students have national and linguistic identities almost equal, which is related to the evolution of the concept of “native language” 70% of students understand it as “my country’s language”. In 2017, compared to 2006, in the northern region, 28% (up to 68%) increased the number of people who choose Ukrainian as an interlocutor, among students this figure is 85%, but only about 30% do not switch to Russian with Russian-speaking (16% in 2006). It has been found that the bilingualism of 50-60% is widespread in the area of ​​information consumption. Residents of the studied territory are able to satisfy their cultural and informational needs (consumption of television and radio production, mass media, reading books) in Ukrainian and Russian, national minorities Poles in particular, have fewer opportunities. Comparison of surveys indicators 2017 and 2006 ilustrates the higher percentage of Ukrainian language use in the media. Keywords: linguistic behavior, linguistic situation, linguistic self-identification, linguistic stability, situational choice of language, linguistic conformism, switching of linguistic codes.