The Decline of Russian in the Bilingual Repertoire of Ukrainians: Transformations in Language Use and Emotional Responses Amid War Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva, Pawel Levchuk Slavisticna Revija, 2026 The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered a rapid rejection of Russian among Ukrainian bilinguals. This article introduces the concept of ideologically accelerated language shift, understood as a moralized and emotionally driven transformation of bilingual repertoires. Based on a mixed-methods survey of 1,298 Ukrainians living in Poland, the study demonstrates how ideology, emotion, and moral agency interact to reshape language practices. The findings show widespread reduction or abandonment of Russian, mediated by language shame and social pressure, and a reconfiguration of bilingualism in exile, with Polish increasingly replacing Russian as a neutral alternative. The study contributes to conflict sociolinguistics by highlighting language as a moral and emotional resource in wartime.
LANGUAGE ATTITUDES OF SCHOOLCHILDREN IN MULTILINGUAL KYIV: RESULTS OF A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva, Pawel Levchuk Language Classic Modern Postmodern, 2025 Background. This paper examines the dynamics of language attitudes and informal language practices among primary schoolchildren in Kyiv – a city marked by complex post-Soviet bilingualism and emerging postcolonial ideologies. In Ukraine’s transforming sociolinguistic landscape, children’s language preferences and usage reflect how linguistic legitimacy and symbolic hierarchies are being reconfigured under the pressures of war, migration, and state-driven language policy.Contribution to the research field. The study contributes to the development of postcolonial sociolinguistics by foregrounding children’s voices as indicators of symbolic realignment in societies undergoing decolonial transitions. It demonstrates how bilingual children in Eastern Europe engage with shifting linguistic hierarchies, offering new insights into the interplay between language policy, affective positioning, and intergenerational agency.Purpose. The research aims to investigate how children aged 6 to 10 in Kyiv perceive and use Ukrainian, Russian, and English in informal, educational, and media-related domains, and how sociopolitical changes influence their language attitudes and aspirations.Methods. The study is based on an anonymous sociolinguistic survey conducted in February 2025 with 104 children from various Kyiv primary schools. The questionnaire explored domains such as family language use, peer communication, language learning motivation, language preferences, media exposure, and self-assessed linguistic competence. A descriptive and interpretive approach was applied within a child – family – society analytical framework rooted in postcolonial sociolinguistics and family language policy theory.Results. The findings reveal a bilingual environment in which Ukrainian is gaining functional and symbolic dominance, while Russian is increasingly restricted to private and emotional domains. Over half of the respondents come from mixed-language families, and 62.4 % report changed attitudes toward Russian due to the war. Ukrainian is primarily viewed as a tool for education and integration, while English emerges as the most preferred language for future development. Russian shows a decline in perceived value and literacy investment.Discussion. The results indicate a generational reordering of language legitimacy in Kyiv’s child population, where Ukrainian consolidates institutional prestige, Russian undergoes symbolic marginalization, and English rises as a marker of global aspiration. These patterns reflect deeper sociopolitical transformations in postcolonial Ukraine and point to the importance of including children’s perspectives in shaping inclusive, future-oriented language policies.
Forced Migration and Family Language Policy: The Ukrainian Experience of Language Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva Cognitive Studies, 2024 This study investigates the impact of forced migration on family language policy among Ukrainian families, with a particular focus on women who have relocated to Poland with their children due to the war in Ukraine. Utilizing data from in-depth interviews, it explores the language situation in refugee families. The analysis concentrates on changes in language behaviour caused by shifts in emotional attitudes towards their language repertoire, due to the traumatic experience of war. It is noteworthy that there has been an increase in the use of the Ukrainian language in family communication, an intentional familiarization of children with the linguistic situation in Ukraine, and a conscious avoidance of the Russian language in public places abroad. Despite these trends, some families continue to predominantly use Russian at home as the primary language for family communication, or they frequently engage in language code-switching. The study examines patterns of changes in language behaviour resulting from the rejection of the Russian language in daily communication, highlighting politically motivated decisions to alter language use and the corresponding strategies of language behaviour. These changes in adults' speech behaviour significantly affect the speech practices of children, one manifestation of which is language attrition. Special attention is given to the phenomenon of language shame and self-shame associated with the use or non-use of the Russian language, the evolution of language attitudes, and their influence on language choice in family language practices.
LANGUAGE CHOICE AND CHANGES IN SPEECH BEHAVIOUR: A STUDY OF BILINGUAL UKRAINIANS’ DURING THE WARTIME Paweł Levchuk, Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva Przeglad Rusycystyczny, 2024 This article aims to present the results of a study on the changes needed to make philological education more effective and satisfying. An attempt was made to answer the following questions: 1) What suggestions do teachers and students have regarding the necessary changes in philological education? 2) Are the expectations of these two groups of respondents aligned? To answer these questions, a qualitative study was conducted using focus group interviews as the data collection technique. Two separate interviews were held with lecturers (6 people) and Russian philology students (6 people). The study results showed that the changes suggested by both groups of respondents align only in a few areas and are interpreted differently. Suggestions concerning changes both inside and outside the classroom were discussed.
Growing up in a Ukrainian Bilingual Community: Families’ Daily Practices and Educational Environment Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva Cognitive Studies, 2023 The article analyses the language situation in Ukraine before the beginning of Russian military aggression in February 2022. The data reflect the language practices of Kyiv families with preschool age children. The sociolinguistic study shows the use of different languages, primarily Ukrainian and Russian, in families raising children of this age group. The author traced the correlation between parents' language behaviour and children's language practices. This article examines bilingualism in the context of the daily language practices of children and families. The author pays attention to the sociolinguistic aspects of the Ukrainian language used in the formal and non-formal communication of Kyiv's preschool children.
The Vocabulary Skills of Ukrainian Pre-schoolers in Poland Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva, Marzena Błasiak-Tytuła Cognitive Studies, 2023 This article analyses the language situation in preschool communities in Poland where Ukrainian children have access to education. The authors report the results of a pilot study conducted in Krakow with Ukrainian preschool children as part of the project "Early stages of development of bilingualism of Ukrainian children in Polish preschools" funded by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (BPN/GIN/2022/1/00013).As part of the project, 4- and 5-year-old Ukrainian children who arrived in Poland after February 24, 2022, as a result of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, participated in a study of lexical competence in Ukrainian and Polish. Vocabulary tests in Ukrainian and Polish reveal the Ukrainian children's previous language experience as well as quantitative indicators of their mastery of Polish during their brief stay in Poland.The study provides information about the characteristics of vocabulary acquisition of early bilinguals in general. The results indicate significant differences between 4- and 5-year-old Ukrainian children in terms of learning Polish vocabulary in different situations.
The sociolinguistic aspect of ukrainian russian child bilingualism on the basis of a survey of ukrainian families Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva Cognitive Studies, 2020 The Sociolinguistic Aspect of Ukrainian Russian Child Bilingualism on the Basis of a Survey of Ukrainian FamiliesThe article explores the linguistic situation in Ukraine, where a key sociolinguistic peculiarity is the large-scale spread of various types of Ukrainian–Russian bilingualism. A special focus is put on bilingualism among children speaking two closely related languages, which represents a current language situation beyond any historical or political context. The article describes the peculiarities of the formation of child bilingualism, which are a result of the changing priorities of the primary and secondary tools of communication. The article presents the findings of a survey covering the family environment, undertaken in order to identify key trends in children's speech in Ukraine. This knowledge subsequently allows for the tracing of the correlation between a mother tongue / parents' second language, the language of family communication, and the national language in Ukraine. Moreover, it helps when it comes to the decision of whether or not to introduce bilingual practices in the early stages of the linguistic personality formation of a child. The concept of a ‘bilingual linguistic personality' is covered, and certain aspects pertaining to how bilingual children perceive the world are listed. The article takes into consideration the issues and criteria of the ‘mother tongue' concept in bilingual settings. The notion of ‘linguistic code switching' is characterized, as well as its impact on the formation of bilingual communicative competence in children. A focus is laid on the use of mixed forms of Ukrainian–Russian bilingualism in the context of the communicative practices of bilingual children. The article also examines a peculiar type of bilingualism, typical of a certain category of bilingual pre-schoolers and primary school children, in which each party of a communicative act tends to preserve their dominant language in an informal setting. Socjolingwistyczny aspekt ukraińsko-rosyjskiej dwujęzyczności dzieci na podstawie badań rodzin ukraińskichW artykule przedstawiona zostaje sytuacja językowa na Ukrainie, gdzie kluczową osobliwością socjolingwistyczną jest masowe rozprzestrzenianie się różnych typów i rodzajów dwujęzyczności ukraińsko-rosyjskiej. Szczególny nacisk kładzie się na dwujęzyczność dzieci, posługujących się blisko spokrewnionymi językami, która reprezentuje rzeczywistą sytuację językową poza jakimkolwiek kontekstem historycznym lub politycznym. Opisano specyfikę formowania się dwujęzyczności dzieci przez pryzmat zmieniającego się priorytetu pierwotnego i wtórnego medium społecznego dla dziecka. Wyniki badania obejmują środowisko rodzinne, którego analiza jest metodą identyfikacji kluczowych trendów w mowie dzieci na Ukrainie, co pozwala następnie na śledzenie korelacji między językiem ojczystym / drugim językiem rodziców, językiem komunikacji rodzinnej a językiem narodowym na Ukrainie. Ponadto pomaga rozważyć możliwość wprowadzenia / niewprowadzania praktyk dwujęzycznych na wczesnych etapach kształtowania się osobowości językowej dziecka. Omówiono też koncepcję „dwujęzycznej osobowości językowej” i wymieniono pewne aspekty postrzegania świata przez dzieci dwujęzyczne. Rozważono kwestie i kryteria koncepcji „języka ojczystego” w środowiskach dwujęzycznych. Scharakteryzowano pojęcie „przełączania kodu językowego”, a także jego wpływ na kształtowanie się dwujęzycznych kompetencji komunikacyjnych u dzieci. Nacisk położono na wykorzystanie mieszanych form dwujęzyczności ukraińsko-rosyjskiej w kontekście praktyk komunikacyjnych dzieci dwujęzycznych. Poddano analizie osobliwy typ dwujęzyczności, typowy dla pewnej kategorii dwujęzycznych przedszkolaków i dzieci ze szkół podstawowych, kiedy każda strona aktu komunikacji ma tendencję do zachowania swojego dominującego języka w nieformalnym otoczeniu.
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ПРОБЛЕМИ РОЗВИТКУ МОВЛЕННЯ УКРАЇНСЬКИХ ДІТЕЙ У ВИМУШЕНІЙ МІГРАЦІЇ: РОЛЬ ПЕРВИННОГО ТА ВТОРИННОГО СОЦІАЛЬНОГО КОНТЕКСТІВ ОВ Шевчук-Клюжева Записки з українського мовознавства, 435-445 , 2024 2024
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Dopełniacz w nauczaniu dzieci z Ukrainy języka polskiego jako drugiego. Wnioski z analizy kontrastywnej języka polskiego, ukraińskiego oraz rosyjskiego M Błasiak-Tytuła, O Shevchuk-Kliuzheva Annales UniversitatisPaedagogicae Cracoviensis. Studia Linguistica, 41-59 , 2023 2023
Соціолінгвістичні особливості формування дитячого мовлення в Україні Шевчук-Клюжева Записки з українського мовознавства, 202-209 , 2020 2020
