Multilingualism and Language Policy in Post-Soviet Ukraine: English, Ukrainian and Russian in Linguistic Landscapes ( Research Brief)
October 24, 2011
This research examines language use in Linguistic Landscapes in a medium size city in post-Soviet southeastern Ukraine. Linguistic Landscapes represent various media, shop signs, advertisement posters, billboards, official and private notices, etc. They reflect the dynamics of political, economic and social transformations, and demonstrate a complex negotiation of competing and coexisting local, national and global discourses and ideologies. This investigation explores how multilingual texts of publicly displayed signs transform visual public spaces, and how these changes affect the local population’s perception of language policy and language use.
Olga Bever, of the University of Arizona, was a 2011-12 Short-Term Travel Grants (STG) fellow.
