Українознавство (Sep 2019)
Ukr.net Portal News through the Prism of Sociolinguistics and Ethnocultural Processes of Modern Ukraine
Abstract
The author has examined news reports of the Ukr.net web portal which appeared during one day, on February 16, 2019, in the context of sociolinguistics and ethnocultural processes of modern Ukraine. First of all, the language of each headline is determined; the absolute number and proportion of messages in Ukrainian and Russian per day are calculated, as well as among those of all thematic sections. The number of posts provided on the portal page in Russian with the correspondence in Ukrainian on the primary source page is researched. The hypothetical share of messages in Ukrainian is calculated, provided that the editorial board of the portal gives the name of all primary messages in two languages: Ukrainian and Russian. Linguistic errors have been identified and systematized, including those caused by the influence of the Russian language, which has been dominant until recent times in the education and information space of Ukraine. Ukr.net is one of the most popular web portals in Ukraine in terms of attendance, and plays an important role in shaping news in the Ukrainian-language environment. Every day the portal editors provide thousands of messages. Posts in the Ukrainian language in different thematic sections had a share from 21% (among all “Auto” news) to 66% (among all main news). About 62% of all headlines per day were in Russian. However, most of the news in Russian had a matching version in Ukrainian and could be found on the portal page in this language. Today we observe the improvement of legislative conditions for overcoming the consequences of a long-term systematic Russification of the Ukrainian population. Conforming to the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as a State Language”, websites must have basic versions in Ukrainian.
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