Vol. 67 No. 3 (2019)
Article

Misha or Mihailik: A Sociolinguistic View on the Ukrainization of Russian Proper Names in Modern Ukraine

PDF
  • Natalia Knoblock
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2018.1452910

Published 2019-07-03

Keywords

  • Toponymy,
  • human activities,
  • Anthropocene,
  • urbanonyms,
  • technogenonyms

Copyright (c) 2019 American Name Society

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This article focuses on linguistic identity and ideology through analysis of the attitudes of Russian-speaking Ukrainians toward the Ukrainization of traditionally Russian proper names (personal names and toponyms). It summarizes the results of a survey conducted among Ukrainian refugees to Russia, which gauged whether this policy contributes to the alleged alienation of the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine from current political and social developments in the country. The results of the study appear to support the importance of preserving the Russian proper names. Their Ukrainization seems to cause some resentment, especially when it affects people’s own names and the names of their children.

PDF

References

  1. A’Beckett, Ludmilla. 2013. “Restoring the Functional Domains of a Formerly ‘Oppressed’ Language: The Pitfalls of Promoting Ukrainian for Ukrainians.” Annual of Language and Politics and Politics of Identity 7, no. 1: 23–47.
  2. Andreenkova, Anna. 2014. “Which Language Should We Use for Interview in Multi-Linguistic Environment.” http://www.aapor.org/AAPOR_Main/media/AnnualMeetingProceedings/2014/Session-E-1-1-Andreenkova-Y.pdf
  3. Aslan, Senem. 2009. “Incoherent State: The Controversy over Kurdish Naming in Turkey.” European Journal of Turkish Studies [Online], no. 10. http://journals.openedition.org/ejts/4142.
  4. Bilaniuk, Laada. 2005. Contested Tongues: Language Politics and Cultural Correction in Ukraine. London: Cornell University Press.
  5. Bilaniuk, Laada, and Svitlana Melnyk. 2008. “A Tense and Shifting Balance: Bilingualism and Education in Ukraine.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 11, no. 3–4: 340–72.
  6. Davies, William D. and Stanley Dubinsky. forthcoming. “Chapter 5: Language and Personal Identity – Personal Names in the World.” In Language Conflict and Language Rights: Ethnolinguistic Perspectives on Human Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  7. Friedman, Debra A. 2009. “Speaking Correctly: Error Correction as a Language Socialization Practice in a Ukrainian Classroom.” Applied Linguistics 31, no. 3: 346–67.
  8. Giddens, Anthony. 1991. Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity.
  9. Gradirovski, Sergei and Neli Esipova. 2008. “Russian Language Enjoying a Boost in Post-Soviet States.” Gallup. http://www.gallup.com/poll/109228/Russian-Language-Enjoying-Boost-PostSoviet-States.aspx
  10. Gross, Aeyal M. 1996. “Rights and Normalization: A Critical Study of European Human Rights Case Law on the Choice and Change of Names.” Harvard Human Rights Journal 9: 269–84.
  11. Hametz, Maura E. 2012. In the Name of Italy: Nation, Family, and Patriotism in a Fascist Court. New York: Fordham University Press.
  12. Interfax-Ukraine. 2015, Oct. 26. “77% of Kirovograd Residents Favor Return of City”s Name of Yelisavetgrad – Media.” http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/299070.html
  13. Irish, Ann B. 2009. Hokkaido: A History of Ethnic Transition and Development on Japan”s Northern Island. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.
  14. Jernudd, Bjorn H. 2010. “Personal Names and Human Rights.” In Linguistic Human Rights: Overcoming Linguistic Discrimination, edited by T. Skutnabb-Kangas and R. Phillipson, 121–32. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  15. Joseph, Sarah, and Melissa Castan. 2013. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Cases, Materials, and Commentary. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  16. Kontra, Miklos. 1999. “Some Reflections on the Nature of Language and Its Regulation.” International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 6, no. 3: 281–8. doi:10.1163/15718119920907730.
  17. Le Page, Robert B., and Andree Tabouret-Keller. 1985. Acts of Identity: Creole-Based Approaches to Language and Ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  18. Littlefield, Daniel F., and Lonnie E. Underhill. 1971. “Renaming the American Indian: 1890–1913.” American Studies 12, no. 2: 33–45.
  19. OSCE. 1998. “The Oslo Recommendations regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities & Explanatory Note.” http://www.osce.org/hcnm/67531?download=true
  20. Pavlenko, Aneta. 2008. “Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries: Language Revival, Language Removal, and Sociolinguistic Theory.” International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 11, no. 3–4: 275–314.
  21. Petro, Nicolai N. 2015. “Understanding the Other Ukraine: Identity and Allegiance in Russophone Ukraine.” In Ukraine and Russia: People, Politics, Propaganda and Perspectives, edited by Richard Sakwa and Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska, 19–35. Bristol, United Kingdom: E-International Relations Edited Collections.
  22. Pogrebinskiy, Mikhail. 2015. “Russians in Ukraine: Before and after Euromaidan.” In Ukraine and Russia: People, Politics, Propaganda and Perspectives, edited by Richard Sakwa and Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska, 90–9. Bristol, United Kingdom: E-International Relations Edited Collections.
  23. Polese, Abel, and Anna Wylegala. 2008. “Odessa and Lvov or Odesa and Lviv: How Important is a Letter? Reflections on the “Other” in Two Ukrainian Cities.” Nationalities Papers 36, no. 5: 787–814.
  24. Politota [Пoлитoтa]. 2014. “Фapиoн Пpoвoдит Укpaинизaцию в Дeтcкoм Caдy [Farion is Conducting Ukrainization in a Kindergarten].” [YouTube Video in Ukrainian]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51OBHZMLMyQ
  25. Sakwa, Richard. 2016. Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands. London and New York: I. B. Tauris.
  26. Scott, James C., John Tehranian, and Jeremy Mathias. 2002. “The Production of Legal Identities Proper to States: The Case of the Permanent Family Surname.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 44, no. 1: 4–44.
  27. Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. 1981. Bilingualism or Not: The Education of Minorities. Clevedon, Avon: Multilingual Matters.
  28. Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. 2000. Linguistic Genocide in Education–or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights?. Mahwah, NJ: Routledge.
  29. Wilson, Andrew. 2002. “Elements of a Theory of Ukrainian Ethno-National Identities.” Nations and Nationalism 8, no. 1: 31–54.
  30. Zhelyazkova, Antonina. 2001. “The Bulgarian Ethnic Model.” East European Constitutional Review 10, no. 4: 62–6.