LINGUISTIC THOUGHT IN KHARKIV’S SPACE AS A FACTOR FOR THE FORMATION OF UKRAINIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY: SKOVORODA – POTEBNIA – SHEVELOV

The paper explores the development of linguistic thought in Kharkiv/Slobozhanshchyna. It takes into consideration the works of Hryhoriy Skovoroda, Olexander Potebnya and Yuriy Shevelov as a potential intellectual continuum that extends from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Through the investigation of the linguistic ideas in the intellectual heritage of each one of these thinkers the article will also explore the correlation of these ideas with the development of the national consciousness of the Ukrainian people. Methods. The proposed work uses content and discourse analysis of Skovoroda’s, Potebnya’s and Shevelyov’s texts. It also uses a) the descriptive-historical method by studying the evolution of the linguistic thought in the Kharkiv/Slobozhanshchyna area through the analysis of the three scholars’ system of views found in their texts and their related contextual environment; b) the method of systematizing and generalizing the specific features of linguistic consciousness and linguistic reflections of these thinkers. Results. The concluded investigation revealed that the process of the development of linguistic thought in the Kharkiv /Slobozhanshchyna area appears to be a continuum that covers the XVIII, XIX and XX centuries. It shows that the content and the innovative nature of language-oriented views of the three thinkers can rightly be considered as a function of a relatively higher level of freedom as an essential characteristic of the cultural and historical landscape of Kharkiv and Slobozhanshchyna. Along with the freedom of thought, anthropocentrism and humanism, a Ukrainocentrism and a general universality of thought should be singled out as cornerstones of the approaches of these thinkers. Taken as longevity, the language-oriented views of Skovoroda, Potebnya, and Shevelyov constitute a constant for Ukraine in the formation of self-awareness of its identity during the period of XVIII-XX centuries. The trajectory of Ukraine's intellectual development, embodied in the creative efforts of these thinkers, marked the path of a growing formation of national self-awareness, which did ultimately led to the emancipation of Ukraine in the spiritual, cultural, and political spheres and its independence in 1991. The intellectual heritage of Skovoroda, Potebnya, and Shevelyov - valuable per se - has thus another dimension. It appears to be a part of the process of the formation of National consciousness and of the establishing of the identity of the Ukrainian souvereign nation.