Shumlianskyi S. Language Politics and Policy in Bilingual Society (the Case of Ukraine).

The dissertation analyses language politics and policy in Ukraine in the context of other bilingual societies and in its specifics as well. According to methods and vision of political science, author pays attention to language situation in Ukraine, language issue in Ukrainian politics and to the language policy of the state authorities in different periods mainly focusing on the last 7 years. In the framework of language situation the author analyses such issues as language grouping of the society, language contact and conflict, language balance, language shift. He claims that Ukrainian society is not as structured and divided along the "linguistic lines", as it is usually presented. Moreover, the causes of the sharp division of political actors' positions in language debates mostly lie in politics itself, but not in the language division of the society. Paying attention to different aspects of co-existence of Ukrainian and Russian languages in Ukraine, the author draws the conclusion about absence ofreal language conflict in Ukrainian society, unlike other bilingual ones, although some tensions in language sphere are present.