Language problem in Ukraine: Between linguistics and politics

Abstract

The paper considers a language problem in Ukraine, which escalated in the still ongoing crisis and was one of the basic grounds for the uprising and armed conflict in the southeastern part of the country. It presents the development of the problem in the context of independent Ukraine, as well as its genesis and development in the period that preceded it. Finally, it considers surzyk, a specific mixed language phenomenon, which has appeared and developed like other communication tools in places of contact between two or many language communities (such as pidgin and creole languages, for example). In the context of the current political climate, the possibility of resolving the status of the Russian language and surzyk seems uncertain.