Ethnic and linguistic identity in Ukraine? It’s complicated

The census questionnaire enquired about “nationality/ethnic origin” and “native language” in line with the methodology of censuses undertaken during the time of the Soviet Union. The former category referred to “ethnic origin”, equated in parentheses with “nationality”, “ethnicity” and “ethnic group” (Arel 2002). The latter was more confusing because during the Soviet times it came to mean the language of one’s nationality as much as linguistic practice (Kulyk 2011). This seems to be confirmed by public surveys in Ukraine: “34% of respondents understand the term ‘native’ as referring to the language in which they think and talk freely; for 32% of those surveyed it refers to the language of the nation they belong to; for 24% it is the language of their parents; and for 9% it is the language they use most often” (Olszański 2012, 14-15). However, “native language” is often translated into English as “mother tongue”. They are used as interchangeable terms, even by the Ukrainian authorities, although their meaning is not necessarily the same. “Mother tongue” is narrowly defined as the first language spoken in early childhood at home (UN and Eurostat 2006).

In the 2001 census 67.5% of Ukraine’s population declared Ukrainian as their native language and 29.6% declared it was Russian. However, a comparison of the data on “nationality/ethnic origin” and “native language” reveals a rather wide discrepancy between declared ethnicity and language. Overall, 77.8% of Ukraine’s population self-identified as ethnically Ukrainian and 17.3% as ethnically Russian. Several other ethnic groups amounted to less than one percent of the country’s population each – for example, Crimean Tatars 0.5%; Bulgarians 0.4%; Hungarians 0.3%; Jews 0.2%; Roma 0.1%. Among ethnic Ukrainians, 85.2% declared Ukrainian as their native language and 14.8% stated it was Russian. Among ethnic Russians, 95.9% declared Russian as their native language and 3.9% stated it was Ukrainian. High percentages of persons belonging to several national minorities declared their native language to be Russian – for example, 88.5% of the Greeks; 83% of the Jews and 64.7% of the Germans. Whereas 71% of the Poles declared their native language to be Ukrainian. On the contrary, the census recorded a high level of correspondence between the language and ethnicity, in the cases of persons belonging to Hungarian and Romanian minorities – 95.4% and 91.7% respectively, as well as to those self-identifying as Crimean Tatar indigenous peoples – 92%. At this point, it is worth noting that the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine refers to “indigenous peoples and national minorities”. According to the Ukrainian authorities, indigenous peoples are those minorities which do not have a kin state. The government included in this category the Crimean Tatar, Karaim and Krimchak peoples (Venice Commission 2019 para 40). In 2001, around 12% of Crimea’s population declared having Tatar origin.

It is worth noting that minority communities across Europe stand with Ukraine. The Federal Union of European Nationalities, the largest umbrella organization of European minorities, launched recently the humanitarian aid campaign “Help so we can help! Minorities for Ukraine“. It remains to be seen how Putin’s war will affect national and linguistic identities, symbolic boundaries, and inter-ethnic relations in Ukraine. Russian is now the language of the aggressor and Ukraine is a nation forged by war. Hopefully minority rights will not become “collateral damage” in Ukraine’s heroic struggle against Russian imperialism. Ukrainians are now not just fighting for their independence but also to defend European values such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. One day the guns will fall silent. When the war is over Europe must continue to support Ukraine on its rocky road to political, economic, and societal reconstruction.