Ukrainian in public space: examples from Poland and Germany (2022–2023)

Abstract

This paper explores the presence of the Ukrainian language in Poland and Germany. Language in public space is the subject of numerous studies, and different questions are in its foreground, among which multilingualism analysis enjoys particular popularity. In this study, we follow the theory of semiotic landscapes, which is about evaluating a language in interaction with other (visual) impressions. Some theoretical approaches are presented before selected examples of the use of Ukrainian in Poland and Germany are documented. In both countries, the material which forms the corpus for the study was collected in the period from February 2022 up to March 2023, including some boards with inscriptions in Ukrainian that can be found at railway stations in Poland and Germany and at the Warsaw airport. These inscriptions are important for the refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine since 2022, be-cause they facilitate a lot their orientation abroad. Methodologically, the study focuses on the evaluation of representative samples from this corpus by applying a nexus analysis, which is about combining different analytical perspectives with each other, including sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, critical discourse analysis, and other components. New insights are driven from the intersections of the analyzed components. Grounded on the nexus analyses, this paper proposes a typology of selected examples, which reveal common aspects, but also significant differences between sign boards in Ukrainian met in Poland and in Germany.