Language Matters in Ukraine

Here is a link to a recent essay by Talia Lavin called “War Music: A Short History of the Ukrainian Language.” I thought people might benefit from reading it, for one because it touches on a subject that we have been writing and thinking about: language. And secondly because it is about an ongoing, current, and perhaps difficult to understand event, at least for some of us.

It may be difficult because we are unfamiliar with the region, the history, the political dynamics, not to mention the language; but it also may be difficult because during times like this, the language of politics itself becomes deliberately foggy. I realize that for some, this may be all too familiar. By focusing on language the way she does, and bringing in some sense of the history, she allows us to see what’s at stake for those who are the victims of this brutal campaign from a perspective that we have not perhaps getting:

“I thought I would start with language, since the Ukrainian language is in the crosshairs of this dictator, and there is reason to believe that, if his conquest, God forbid, takes hold, its musical syllables will be barred from the public sphere.”

She also includes some videos of traditional Ukrainian music played on traditional instruments, which I also thought relevant to our discussion of Hanif Abdulrraqib’s essays that we’ve been reading.

Do listen to the music. She ends by saying:

“And let the birds say it and let the singers say it, in Russian and Ukrainian and every language there is—no more people dying in the snow, as lonely as everyone is in death, no to war, no to bullets, no to bombs. The two languages differ but one word is exactly the same in both: мир—peace.”