Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa: Plurilinguismo in Europa ... - EURAC

Research on the linguistic situation
in the Lublin Region
Janina M. Zabielska, Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski, Jana Pawla II, yanca@poczta.fm
Abstract
Our participation in the project “Language bridges” aimed at analysing the present linguistic situation in
the Lublin region as regards the use and popularity of Ukrainian and Byelorussian – the languages spoken by
our eastern neighbours. Languages and cultures of our neighbours have low prestige.
While conducting our research it appeared rather problematic how to defi ne the key term in our
examination.Therefore, actually we researched the languages of our neighbours to fi nd out how they are
evaluated and perceived by prospective learners. Three target groups were selected: university students,
technical school students and teachers. The awareness of the neighbouring languages in the Lublin region
is rather low
1. Introduction
The eastern part of the Lublin region has had a multilingual character for ages. Originally, it
was Polish-Ruthenian and, in time, it evolved into Polish-Ukrainian. Peasants who inhabited the
areas close to Chelm, for instance, were usually Ukrainian-speaking, while the city dwellers
spoke mainly, but not only, Polish.
Our participation in the project “Language bridges” aimed at analysing the present linguistic
situation in the Lublin region as regards the use and popularity of Ukrainian and Byelorussian
– the languages spoken by our eastern neighbours. The general conclusion to be drawn is that
the language habits in Lubelszczyzna differ remarkably from those in the particular partner
regions. Although Ukrainian is still used and it does exist in our national consciousness, it is
not treated as part of the regional culture, but only as the mother tongue of our eastern
neighbours. Moreover, it has fallen victim to assimilation processes and, as a consequence, it is
gradually dying out. As regards Byelorussian, it is virtually non- existent in the region.
The situation described above results mainly from the fact that even though the Lublin
region borders to Byelorussia and Ukraine, neither Byelorussian nor Ukrainian are regarded
as languages characteristic of the areas adjacent to the eastern frontier and, as the research
proved, they are relatively rarely used there. It is due to the fact that until the demise of the
USSR all the inhabitants of Byelorussia and Ukrain offi cially spoke Russian and, therefore, many
Poles nowadays do not differentiate between Ukrainian and Byelorussian which, despite bearing
considerable resemblance, differ signifi cantly in many respects. It is worth mentioning that the
similarities between the three languages can be attributed to being derived from common roots
– the pre-Slavic language, and the co-existence of the Poles, Ukrainians and Byelorussians in
one state since the 14th century.
2. History
In the mid-war period (1918-1939) the Polish society was multilingual and multiethnic. In 1931
the Poles constituted 68.9 % of the population, while the remaining percentage was represented
by nations such as the Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Russians, Germans, Jews and a few others.
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