The History of the Legal Status of the Ukrainian Language: From Kyivan Rus’ to Contemporary Ukraine
The History of the Legal Status of the Ukrainian Language: From Kyivan Rus’ to Contemporary Ukraine

Summary/Abstract: The insecurity resulting from the Russian invasion on Ukraine signifies that the political future of the country is still being formed. Multiple aspects of the further functioning of the country are being decided now. This also concerns the Ukrainian language, which has a significant number of native speakers not to be considered even remotely endangered, yet, its future status as the main language of the state institutions is continuously under threat. If one looks at the turbulent history of Ukraine, one can observe that this is not a new issue at all. Throughout the centuries, the Ukrainian lands have been controlled by many countries. They included the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Austro-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. All of them conducted various policies towards the Ukrainian people as well as their language. In addition, these policies were constantly being altered. This article aims to present the evolution of the Ukrainian language, in particular its legal status in entities controlling the Ukrainian territories. Save the above-mentioned unions and empires, the language status is also explained, as it existed in the proto-states attempting to form independent Ukraine in the past, such as the Kyivan Rus’, Zaporozhian Sich, the UPR, the WUPR, and the Ukrainian SSR. A particular emphasis is put on the modern history, namely the development of the language laws in the Soviet Union and in independent Ukraine. Whether Ukraine will become a de jure and de facto monolingual European democracy is up to the aftermath of the currently ongoing events.

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