“Liquidation” television series and the new myth of Odessa and Odessan language – МЕЖДУНАРОДНЫЙ ЖУРНАЛ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ

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Inna Kabanen
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
PL 4, Yliopistonkatu 3, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
Ph. D. student of Department of Modern Languages
e-mail: inna.kabanen@helsinki.fi
ORCID: 0000-0003-1479-3390

“Liquidation” television series and the new myth of Odessa and Odessan language

Abstract: Myth and reality can co-exist at parallel levels or be intertwined. In the latter case it might be difficult to define where the myth ends and the reality begins. The myth of Odessa and Odessan language belongs to this category. Since its foundation in 1794, numerous different cultures and languages have co-existed in Odessa and this gradually led to the formation of the peculiar Odessan speech, a particular variation of the Russian language. Over the centuries, “Odessan language” underwent significant mutations, due to crucial events in the city’s history. Consequently, the Odessan language of our times cannot be considered the same as it was de-scribed, for example, in the literary works of Odessan authors of the previous centuries. In this article, I address the development and the transformation of the Odessan language from the point of view of a myth. I analyze the tv series “Liquidation”, which initiated a new era of popu-larity of Odessa as a topic, and thus contributed to the birth of a neo-myth of the Odessan lan-guage. In the dialogues from the series, we can observe some traits attributed to the Odessan language, and also the differences, which occur when such traits are interpreted by different ac-tors. The results of the analysis show that it is impossible to unequivocally state whether the Odessan language of “Liquidation” corresponds to the reality or not. However, it clearly has contributed to the development of the myth of Odessa, and for many viewers the series has be-come a reference point.

Key words: Odessa, Odessan language, series, myth, “Liquidation”, television, Russian language variations, language contact.

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For Citation:

Kabanen, I. (2021). “Liquidation” television series and the new myth of Odessa and Odessan language. International Journal of Cultural Research, 1 (42), 64–81. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2021_1_64

DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2021_1_64