"Do Not Use Orc-Speak": Social media discourses on Russian in Ukraine in the wake of war 

Dr Ivan Kozachenko, Jagiellonian University, Poland

Webinar - Wednesday 1^st June 2022, 17:00-18:00 BST 

The brutality shown by the Russian military during the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 soon saw Russian soldiers likened to the ‘Orcs’ from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy world. The current war has radicalised public opinion in Ukraine and intensified debates on identity and language. Since protecting Russian-speakers was declared one of the pretexts for the invasion, the use and status of the Russian language in Ukraine has become an increasingly pressing issue. This paper explores social media discourses on linguistic identities and practices prior and during the ongoing full-scale aggression. It is argued that, while the Euromaidan revolution of 2014 provided more inclusive frames for the accommodation of Russian, the current invasion has reinforced the language’s portrayal as alien and inappropriate.

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