Political and Linguistic Identities in an Ethnic Conflict

Language is a powerful marker for social discrimination, often associated with stereotypes and prejudices against various social groups. However, less is known about the psychological role of language during ethnolinguistic conflicts. In such conflicts, the political rivalry is closely intertwined with language ideology. We consider two independent paths through which language might trigger social discrimination. The first one is related to linguistic identity, where a person could favor those who speak like her. The second one is related to political identity, where a person could favor those who use the language associated with the person’s political views. In the context of the conflict in Ukraine, we find empirical support only for the political identity explanation and no support for the linguistic identity one.