UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE AS STATE LANGUAGE: GENERAL AND LAW DISCOURSE

Abstract

The topicality of the study is determined by the necessity to cover the importance of the Ukrainian language as the state language in building and further development of the Ukrainian state. It is indicated that before the russian aggression, the issue of the legal status of the Ukrainian language did not become the subject of a comprehensive study of jurisprudence, and certain aspects of the Ukrainian language’s functions within the state were the subject of epistemology mainly of philologists. The purpose of the study is to focus attention on the necessity to perceive the language through its state-building role, on the importance of fulfilling the requirements for ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of society. Emphasis is placed on certain provisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine decisions in cases related to the status of the Ukrainian language as the state language and ensuring its functioning in Ukraine. Examples of language legislation violations by individual subjects of political activity are given. It is pointed out the positive experience of European states in ensuring the functioning of the state language, forming a discourse on the important role of language in state building. For European states, the position on the importance of the state language, which is considered as the basis of state building, as the foundation of statehood, is quite obvious. It is argued that the recognition of the Ukrainian language as the state language in Ukraine is a great achievement of the Ukrainian people (based on the nation-building and state-building function of the language). Throughout the entire historical development, the Ukrainian people and their language were oppressed. However, despite all the obstacles, the Ukrainian language is currently legislated as the state language. Accordingly, the state must ensure the comprehensive development and functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of public life throughout the territory of Ukraine. It is summarized that the implementation of the task of establishing the Ukrainian language as the state language by public authorities in Ukrainian society turned out to be insufficiently effective. We could observe the process of narrowing its use, which became one of the factors of social tension and affected the provision of national security of the Ukrainian state. Today, it is the state authorities that have an important duty to convey the role of the Ukrainian language, which was noted in the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. There can be no Ukrainian state without the Ukrainian language.