HODONYMS AS POLITICAL SIGNS: FROM DE-SOVIETIZATION TO DE-RUSSIFICATION IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Toponymy is a tool of forming new reality, national identity and political culture. The article’s scientific goal is to track Ukrainian hodonyms (the street names) as political signs withing the compass of the historical events between 2013–2025, based on the Euromaidan Revolution (2013–2014) and the Russo-Ukrainian War (2022–nowadays). Hodonyms are the voicers of nation’s attitude to the ruling regime, acknowledging their own affiliation to European views and values. The street names are a history storage medium which reflect mentality, national consciousness and historical awareness. The process of renaming hodonyms is a complicated social and linguistic phenomenon which requires a huge amount of time. The street names are underrated in their vital meaning in national creation, they are a declaration of will and eyewitnesses of the political changes. The study presents fifteen hodonyms collected from around Ukraine with the aim to show tendencies and key milestones in giving the new titles. Hodonyms react to political changes immediately, this subcategory of toponyms is the symbol of a democratic era in Ukraine. The present titles are based on a conventional refusal of Soviet and Russia’s imperial past, at the same time they glorify everything Ukrainian (cultural figures, proponents, countries). There is the rehabilitation of the old street names as well as the establishment of new titles. The hodonyms are examined to meet the standards of the Ukrainian language. The accelerated procedure of changing the street names was established due to full-invasion in 2022. Hodonyms are more than political signs, they are the reformers of social changes, they are a mirror image of nation, they are national and mutual choices. The renaming of the street is a battlefield for civilians and their contribution to the nation revival and symbolic shift as a consequence.