THE LINGUISTIC SITUATION IN The Field OF Trade And services in UKRAINE

Maryna Hontar
PhD in Philology, Junior Researcher of the Department of stylistics, language culture and sociolinguistіcs, Institute of the Ukrainian Language of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
4 Hrushevskyi St., Kyiv 01001, Ukraine
Е-mail: hontar.m@gmail.com

Heading: Researches
Language: Ukrainian

Abstract: The article analyses the linguistic situation in the field of trade and services in Ukraine based on the sociolinguistic survey held in 2017 throughout the country, except for the occupied territories. In order to analyse the linguistic situation in this area, the questions were selected to the respondents for mass survey related to the linguistic behaviour of the respondent in trade establishments, the respondent’s assessment of linguistic situation in the services sector of its residence locality, assessments of the status value/low status of using the Ukrainian language in this area. Changes studied in Ukrainian language behaviour and assessment of the Ukrainian language status in the field of trade and services within a period from 2006 to 2017. 2006 data showed a relatively low level of the state language status value in the field of trade and services with a rather high level of its status value among Ukrainians in general, which indicates the need for measures to increase the status value of using the Ukrainian language in this field. At the same time, the study showed a tendency towards positive dynamics in using the Ukrainian language in the institutions of trade and increase in the bilingualism level. 2017 survey results were influenced by socio-political changes in Ukraine: annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and occupation of part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by the Russian authorities caused changes in the attitude of Ukrainians to the Russian language. This resulted in a decrease of the Russian language status value in Ukraine. In addition, the lack of survey data from the occupied territories, dominated by the Russian-speaking population, somewhat changed the overall presentation of the Ukrainian language functioning in the field of trade and services. Sociolinguistic analysis revealed that the linguistic situation in the area of interest, as well as the linguistic situation in Ukraine in general is characterized by the Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism demonstrated differently in various regions: the field of services is almost entirely Ukrainian in the West, bilingual in the central region with a significant predominance of the Ukrainian language, in the East and South – bilingual with the predominance of the Russian language, in the North – bilingual with approximately the same ratio of the Ukrainian and Russian languages.

Keywords: sociolinguistics, linguistic situation in the field of trade and services, bilingualism, Ukrainian language, prestige of language.

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