How Can Language Be a Sword: Exploring the Nature of Language in the Soviet State

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18523/2313-4895.12.2025.130-137

Keywords:

the USSR, Ukraine, totalitarian language, linguistic assimilation, Soviet Russian language, national languages, linguistic trauma, the Russian-Ukrainian war

Abstract

The review article examines the recent book by Eugenia Kuznetsova, an Ukrainian writer, translator, and specialist in postcolonial studies, “Language as a Sword: How the Soviet Empire Spoke” (2023). The main themes discussed in the article are the instrumentalization of language in the Soviet state and the development and characteristics of the Soviet Russian language. Despite possible criticisms of Kuznetsova’s book, it nevertheless convincingly shows how the Russian language became the “sword” of the Soviet totalitarian state and why national languages should serve as “shields” for all nations and peoples living there. The importance of the study for understanding the current linguistic situation in Ukraine and the Russian Federation is also emphasized.

Author Biography

Natalia Shlikhta, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

Natalia Shlikhta is a history professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Her main research interests include the ecclesiastical history of Ukraine in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, as well as anthropologically oriented Soviet history. Her notable publications include a monograph in Ukrainian titled “The Church of Those Who Survived. Soviet Ukraine, mid-1940s – early 1970s” (2011) and a textbook in Ukrainian called “History of Soviet Society” (2015), along with numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in Ukrainian, Russian, English, German and Turkish.

shlikhta@ukma.edu.ua

References

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Published

2025-12-26

How to Cite

Shlikhta, N. (2025). How Can Language Be a Sword: Exploring the Nature of Language in the Soviet State. Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal, (12), 130–137. https://doi.org/10.18523/2313-4895.12.2025.130-137

Issue

No. 12 (2025): Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal

Section

Reflections

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Copyright (c) 2025 Natalia Shlikhta

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