Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism in Ukraine: Inside and outside perception

Abstract

This article examines the main approaches to the study of Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism in Ukraine in research of Ukrainian and foreign scholars. Though Ukrainian and Russian are language codes represented by a large number of speakers, due to cognation and diffuse nature of bilingualism the number of communicative deviations between members of different language com- munities is quite low. Language situation after reestablishing Ukraine’s independence in 1991 shows a shift in status of the two languages towards Ukrainian. Nevertheless, strong support of the status of Russian from the Russian Federation cannot be excluded alongside a postcolonial mentality factor which complicates the already difficult process of nationalizing the Ukrainian language. Fragmentation of information, varying degrees of reliability and non-compliance with the historical approach, the difference in views on the function of the state language in Ukraine and Russia and minor errors in information about Ukraine may cause a distortion of the ob jective picture in one’s research. All this brings up an idea of adjusting the functional load of languages in Ukraine towards strengthening the position of the Russian language. At the same time, comprehensive studying of the language situation in Ukraine enables the most objective evaluation of the bilingual situation placing it under different parameters and tracing its dynamics in or der to determine the features of regional bilingualism. Keywords: bilingualism, native language, Ukrainian language, Russian language, language of everyday communication, functional load of languages, language situation.