36.953, Reviews: Choosing a Mother Tongue: Ong (2025)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-36-953. Wed Mar 19 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.953, Reviews: Choosing a Mother Tongue: Ong (2025)

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Date: 18-Mar-2025
From: Teresa Wai See Ong [ongtesa at gmail.com]
Subject: Applied Linguistics: Ong (2025)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/35-3207

Title: Choosing a Mother Tongue
Subtitle: The Politics of Language and Identity in Ukraine
Series Title: Multilingual Matters
Publication Year: 2024

Publisher: Multilingual Matters
           http://www.multilingual-matters.com/
Book URL:
http://www.multilingual-matters.com/display.asp?isb=9781788925679

Author(s): Corinne A. Seals

Reviewer: Teresa Wai See Ong

Summary
Choosing a Mother Tongue: The Politics of Language and Identity in
Ukraine is written by Corinne A. Seals based on a study she conducted
in 2014-2015 with 38 participants. It contains eight chapters. In the
introduction chapter, Seals provides a brief history of modern Ukraine
and its linguistic situation. Ukraine became an independent state in
1991 when the implementation of a standardised language to be used in
the education system was vital. The initial aim was to require
everyone to use the Russian language as their primary language
(Kirkwood, 1990, p. 3). At the end of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had
the largest number of Russian speakers outside of Russia (Pavlenko,
2008, p. 16), which impacted the status of the Ukrainian language. As
a result of the Ukrainisation policies adopted in 1991, the Ukrainian
language was subsequently declared as the state’s only official
language; that eventually led to the widespread use of the language in
the country and gave rise to the presence of bilingual speakers in
Ukraine. Seals ends the chapter by briefly mentioning language
ideologies in Ukraine, which reflect the country’s complex history
since independence.
                In Chapter 2, Seals presents the overall framework of
her book by discussing language and identity after the Orange
Revolution in Ukraine. The Orange Revolution took place in 2004
following the presidential elections. Over 500,00 Ukrainians
participated in the mass protests, which led to the annulment of the
election’s results; and subsequently a new run-off election took place
at the end of 2004. The aim was to reconsider their imagined
identities and future. As a result of the run-off, many Ukrainians,
aged between 20 and 40 years old, expressed the wish to establish a
stronger national identity and definition of being Ukrainians. Such
wishes were reflected in Seals’ 2009 pilot study, which presented
evidence from the participants who claimed that the Ukraine language
was most appropriate to represent them as Ukrainians. Such a claim
recognises the influence of ideological Discourses on the younger
generations.
                In Chapter 3, Seals explains her data collection
method, which took place from 2014 to 2015 with 38 Ukrainians, aged
between 18 and 40 years old. She chose subjects in this age range
because they had grown up during the period of the switch from
Russification to Ukrainisation policies. Among her participants, 12
were still living in Ukraine during the interview while the other 26
lived in diaspora communities. English was used as the dominant
language in her interviews. Upon completion, data coding and analysis
were conducted using the Grounded Theory approach via NVivo 10
software. Many of Seals’ participants retold events of the Ukrainian
war, correcting Seals regarding the terms used. Some claimed that the
‘war’ has disrupted friendships and other relationships. Hence, to
retain their belonging in the Ukrainian community, many used speaking
the Ukrainian language to establish their identification.
                In Chapter 4, Seals continues her discussion by
examining narratives related to responsibility for the Ukraine war.
Some participants believed that the responsibility lay outside the
country, particularly with those who had used Ukraine as a political
weapon, while others felt that political extremists in Ukraine were
responsible. In their narrations, the participants expressed their
opinions using various linguistic strategies, such as metonymy,
personification, repetition, dialogism and intertextuality as well as
discursive positioning. For example, the use of words such as ‘Putin’
or ‘Russia’ symbolise aggression and power.
                In Chapter 5, Seals reports some unexpected findings
on ‘changing your mother tongue’, which were based on both
participants living in Ukraine and in the diaspora community. Most
scholars, such as Blommaert (2005), Bucholtz and Hall (2005) and
Mendoza-Denton and Hall (2010), have argued that language allows a
speaker to connect to certain aspects of society and culture because
language and identity are inseparable. Some participants saw it as
necessary to switch from Russian to the Ukrainian language because of
the symbolic value of the Ukrainian language. They also began wearing
Ukrainian embroidery, showing that culture is closely tied to
language. Nevertheless, some faced challenges when making their
language choice because it would be difficult to pass down their
heritage language to the future generations if they did not speak it.
                In Chapter 6, Seals introduces the Model of Immigrant
Identity, Investment and Integration (Seals, 2024, p. 134), which was
used to uncover the dialogism, intertextuality and investment
reflected in participants’ narratives. Participants revealed their
strategies for negotiating between the desire to become ‘good
immigrants’, integrating into host societies and having the desire to
remain ‘good citizens’ in their home country. Such positions always
were filled with difficulties and had to be repeatedly  renegotiated.
The complex identity negotiation involved various intersectional
factors that were unavoidable, indicating the challenges faced by the
participants.
                In Chapter 7, Seals talks about participants’
narratives from a new perspective: that it does not matter what
language you speak. Such a perspective is characteristic primarily of
the younger Ukrainians interviewed, aged between 20 and 30, who were
keener about diversity and globalisation. These participants did not
worry about the language they spoke and accepted the complexity of the
ideologies behind the events. They dispelled the myth that language
preference is strong in Western Ukraine. At the end of the day, many
positioned themselves closely with the idea of a multilingual,
multicultural Ukraine.
                In Chapter 8, Seals closes her book by summarising
every chapter’s finding. She explains that throughout each chapter,
the participants had demonstrated how they discursively used
linguistic devices to position and reposition themselves via their
narratives. Their narratives indicate that both the local and global
contexts need to be considered when analysing discursive events. Seals
concludes that when conducting such a study, both home and host
country events need to be considered because they affect participants’
daily lived experiences. Additionally, there is a need to
reconceptualise the definition of ‘mother tongue’ because it is
changeable for some participants due to challenges that have
influenced them to negotiate and renegotiate their identities over
time.
Evaluation
The Ukrainian War and conflict shocked the world when the clash was
broadcast internationally through news outlets (The Guardian Staff,
2012). With the war continuing to the present day, not only the
Ukrainians are suffering but other countries as well, due to the
disruptions of food chains and cargo shipping. The conflict has
impacted the relationship between language, culture and identity, in
the same way as politics, mass media and country’s economy status.
Such impact is clearly demonstrated by the participants in Seals’
study, who placed strong emphasis on negotiation and renegotiation of
their choice of mother tongue and identity. Their past and present
place of living has also affected their language ideologies and the
need for constant negotiation.
                Seals’ study has shown the different perspectives of
Ukrainians living in and out of the country. Seals began her story by
telling us of Ukrainians who were keen on being bilinguals, speaking
both the Russian and Ukrainian languages, both of which were
meaningful to them. Nevertheless, when the war and conflict erupted,
many began shifting to the Ukrainian language because speaking Russian
signals a connection with Russia. Several participants suddenly lost
their friends because of different ideological perspectives. To unite
as one nation, most participants chose the Ukrainian language as their
mother tongue, which became prominent in certain cities in Ukraine.
They also hoped for the war to end soon so that they would have peace.
They also mentioned that the responsibility for the war lies with all
parties including the government and citizens. Those living in
diaspora communities would like to be identified as Ukrainians through
their language, which is tied to their Ukrainian national identity,
but many had to learn the language of their host country for practical
purposes. For the younger generation, it was not easy to obtain
opportunities to use the Ukrainian language in their education and
work environments. As the participants stated, their identity
constantly changed to suit the environment. Overall, many stated that
whatever language(s) they ended up speaking, Ukrainian values and
culture were sufficient to maintain their identity as Ukrainians and
that this perspective would contribute to the building of a
multilingual, multicultural Ukraine.
What we learnt from Seals’ study is that mother tongue plays a
significant role in conceptualising one’s identity and language
ideology. In addition to using their mother tongue for identification,
some also used cultural traditions, such as wearing yvshyvanka
embroidery (Ukrainian embroidery) and traditional vinok flower crowns
on special events. In closing the study, Seals highlights the
importance of  considering the local and global contexts when
analysing discursive events. This is particularly true in the current
era because identity negotiation is constant for most people, not only
for Ukrainians, because of  mobility and relocation. Therefore, the
definition of mother tongue needs to be reconceptualised to better
reflect people’s lived experiences. Seals’ study deserves praise for
capturing the voices of the people and their thoughts about their
identity and mother tongue, despite the many challenges in fully
understanding the conflict in Ukraine and its effect on the nation.
References
Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse: A critical introduction. Cambridge
University Press.
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and interaction: A
sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, 7(4-5), 585-614.
Kirkwood, M. (1990). Language planning: Some methodological
preliminaries. In M. Kirkwoord (Ed.), Language planning in the Soviet
Union (pp. 1-22). St Martin Press.
Mendoza-Denton, N., & Hall, K. (2010). Two language, two identities?
In C. Llamas & D. Watt (Eds.), Language and identities (pp. 113-123).
Edinburg University Press.
Pavlenko, A. (2008). Multilingualism in post-Soviet countries:
Language revival, language removal, and sociolinguistic theory. In A.
Pavlenko (Ed.), Multilingualism in post-Soviet countries (pp. 1-40).
Multilingual Matters.
Seals, C. A. (2024). Choosing a mother tongue: The politics of
language and identity in Ukraine. Multilingual Matters.
Reviewer
Teresa Wai See Ong works as a Learning Support Specialist at the
Singapore University of Social Sciences in Singapore. She has widely
published in areas related to language maintenance and language shift,
language planning and policy, and linguistic landscape. At present,
she co-investigates a project that examines tertiary student learning
needs and behaviours.



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