Language Identity and Language Laws in Ukraine: Implementation Challenges and the Real Impact on Society

Abstract

The question of language as a marker of cultural and political identity in contemporary Ukraine remains a complex problem despite extensive scholarly literature on language processes and the sociolinguistic situation in general within the country. The challenges in implementing the law On ensuring the functioning of Ukrainian as the state language (2019) - not least the Venice Commission recommendations and the criticism voiced by various groups within Ukraine opposing the Law - have highlighted a number of concerns facing Ukrainian society that appear destined, fatally, to remain without a satisfactory answer. This essay is innovative in that it links Frantz Fanon’s and Serhij Kryms’kyj’s theoretical legacies with a proposal to develop fresh research approaches for the conceptualization of the language problem in postwar Ukraine.