Language situation in the district of Ripky (Černihiv, Ukraine)

This article describes the current language situation within the Ripky district (‘rajon’) and its rural surroundings. This border area, part of the Polissian geographic macro-region, located between Ukraine and Belarus’, and not far from the Russian Federation, presents a very interesting and intricate language picture. The language situation within this aerea is characterized by an overlapping of different language codes, which are dependent on a series of more or less interrelated variables. In the first part of this study I am going to summarize, in a broader context, the results of previous studies on the language situation in the town of Ripky and its rural surroundings. The second part aims to illustrate and analyze the data derived from individual field-work research carried out in this area over the last few years.