Pragmatic and Symbolic Value of Ukrainian and Russian in the Context of War: A case of Diasporic Communities in Germany and Austria

Within the conceptual framework of 'Languages and War', the paper focuses on the interplay of the pragmatic and symbolic value of Ukrainian and Russian in the war-affected Ukrainian diasporic communities in Germany and Austria. Thereby, the paper examines (potential) shifts in attitudes towards both languages and in their use through the evaluation of a specifically designed questionnaire (N= 390 respondents). In so doing, the paper addresses the questions: 1) what shifts in use of both languages as well as in attitudes towards them can be observed, 2) whether and (if so), to what extent these shifts are linked to the pragmatic and symbolic values of both languages respectively.