Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses Ukrainian people almost every day. The transcripts of his videos are translated into English and Russian (just a fun fact for those accusing Ukraine of blind Russophobia). But one remarkable detail often gets lost in the English translations, which are available on the official website: Zelenskyy’s use of gender-equal language and feminitives – words that denote women and are usually formed from masculine words. For example, when addressing Ukrainians, he often says not only “ukrainci” (Ukrainians in the so-called generic masculine form), but also adds the feminitive form “ukrainki”: Бажаю здоров’я, шановні українці, українки! “I wish you health, dear Ukrainian men and women!”
The most systematically Zelenskyy uses gender-inclusive language when he addresses Ukrainian defenders: Слава всім нашим захисникам, слава всім нашим захисницям! “Glory to all our men defenders, glory to all our women defenders!”. In fact, an important public holiday is now officially called “the Day of Men and Women Defenders” in Ukrainian.
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, is called “Prezidentka”, whereas Charles Michel is “Prezident” of the European Council. As for pronouns, Zelenskyy often gives thanks to kožnomu j kožnij “everyone (male) and everyone (female)”. Some nouns do not have conventionalized feminine forms, such as voiny “warriors”. In that case, he occasionally adds a clarification: “our warriors – men and women”.
When referring to men and women equally, Zelenskyy sets new conventions. As in the other Eastern Slavic languages, similar to German or Spanish, plural masculine forms are traditionally considered generic. However, experimental and computational evidence suggests that generic masculine forms are only generic on paper (in dictionaries and grammars), but not in language users’ minds and behaviour (as I argued in this blog post). They cement the existing male bias in language.
By using gender-inclusive language when addressing his compatriots, Zelenskyy acknowledges the important role of women in the fight with the Russian aggressors. This is not a mere symbolic gesture: The Ukrainian army is one of the most feminized in the world. According to The Washington Post, women accounted for about 22 percent of Ukraine’s military in July 2022 – larger than in any NATO country.
Moreover, by using gender-inclusive language, Zelenskyy signals that he shares the values of gender equality, as opposed to Russia’s so-called “traditional values” – that is, toxic masculinity rooted in deep insecurity. The use of feminitives also shows that Ukrainian is drifting away from Russian, which was the dominant language in the tsarist and Soviet times, while Ukrainian was actively suppressed or frowned upon, as the language of “uneducated people”. Compared to other Slavic languages, especially Czech and Slovak, Russian has very few feminitives. Russian speakers often do not know how to form a feminitive noun that does not sound like mockery. Many existing feminitives have pejorative connotation and are typical of colloquial speech, like doktorsha or vrachixa (both meaning “woman doctor”). This linguistic fact is in perfect harmony with the archconservative position of the current Russian government. Recently, the Minister of Health has criticised the “vicious practice” when women decide to get education and build their career before producing children (i.e., cannon fodder for future imperialist wars).
So, every time Zelenskyy uses feminitives and gender-inclusive language, he signals that Ukraine has made its civilisational choice – to be with Europe. He also shows that Ukraine has left “Russkiy Mir”, both culturally and linguistically.
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