У статті проаналізовано поняття "мовна поведінка" і "мовна стійкість", простежено їхній
зв’язок з такими поняттями, як "мовна свідомість" та "мовна ситуація". Матеріалом дослідження став роман Тамари Горіха Зерня "Доця" про події 2014 року на Донбасі. Схарактеризовано комунікативну поведінку та вияви мовної стійкості українців у Донецьку на початку війни та окупації. Визначено причини перемикання мовного коду, з’ясовано ставлення
до мови учасників подій, виокремлено мовні засоби реалізації ідеологічного протиставлення
"свій — чужий".
The Russian-Ukrainian military conflict in Donbas region exacerbated and highlighted the problems of linguistic, national, cultural and civic identity, language behavior and language firmness
during the war, when the Ukrainian language becomes not only a means of communication but
also a means of preserving identity and resistance to the language of conquerors. An important
source for studying these issues and some of their aspects are literature and art works dedicated to
the events in Eastern Ukraine.
The purpose of the article is to attempt to characterize the language behavior of Ukrai nians
under the Russian-Ukrainian war in Eastern Ukraine, to identify the examples of the language
firmness and to determine the reasons that influence on the choice of language code under mentioned circumstances, based on the materials of a contemporary literary work.
The article uses descriptive and contextual-interpretive methods to describe and analyze
the material of the study as well as to summarize the results.
The study is based on a novel by the writer and volunteer Tamara Gorikha Zernia (the real
name of the author is Tamara Duda) “Daughter”, which reproduces the events of spring and
summer 2014 — the beginning of the war and the occupation of a part of Donbass region. The plot
is based on true stories that happened to real people, as well as the testimonies of eyewitnesses
and participants in the events.
The analysis of the novel "Daughter" by Tamara Gorikha Zernia made it possible to study
the characteristic manifestations of the language behavior of Ukrainians under the Russian-Ukrainian war. The predominant Russian-speaking of Donbass is the result of a purposeful Russifi-
cation policy of the region during the Soviet era, and it was the language factor that became one
of the reasons for the success of the Russia’s information and propaganda campaign and armed
aggression. The work reflects the perception by Donetsk residents of the Ukrainian language,
Ukraine, Ukrainian national tradition, which is far from being unambiguous. At the same time,
with the help of appropriate language strategies chosen by the author, it is emphasized that the
war in Donbass region is primarily for Ukrainian identity. Language firmness is a characteristic
feature of the communicative behavior of the main character of the work, who together with the
like-minded people joined the struggle to defend their country. Language is presented as a means
of preserving one’s own identity as well as the “friend-or-foe” marker, an internal factor that
clearly identifies the position of the participants in the events described in the novel.
