Stateforming Issues in the Printed Mass Media at the Beginning of the XXth Century

The article deals with the press discourse of the XXth century beginning as a relevant scientific object, having an outstanding significance for Ukrainian nation formation, preparation of prerequisites for Ukrainian revolution and its achievements defense. As one of its important part, the author considers publications, devoted to Ukrainian spiritual revival, language and cultural problems as the basis and instrument in the struggle for Ukrainian statehood. Not once did this period attract attention of historians (V. Veryha, D. Doroshenko, H. Kasianov, P. Huba), we have thorough and complex scientific researches (I. Krupskyi, I. Mykhailyn, N. Sydorenko, M. Tymoshyk, P. Fedoryshyn), but there exists a problem of deeper understanding of some problem aspects, accent adjustment due to the possibility of attracting new publications, fact data, updating of certain historic assessments on this basis. The tasks of the article are to differentiate thematic directions of struggle for strengthening Ukrainian statehood in democratic-national press at the XXth century beginning; to outline problem-thematic and genre constructs of press struggle for Ukrainian language consolidation as important means of nation- and state formation; to analyze the systems of means and devices, used by authors and editorial boards of democratic Ukrainian periodicals – daily unaffiliated newspaper “Vidrodzhennia” (“Revival”), Ukrainian satiric journals “Budiak” (“Thistle”), “Gedz”, “Repiakhy” (“Burdocks”). Thematic directions of the press struggle for strengthening Ukrainian statehood at the XXth century beginning are drawn a line round. The reflection of one of its important aspects – defending the Ukrainian language – in Ukrainian periodicals (newpaper “Vidrodzhennia”, satiric journals “Gedz”, “Budiak”, “Repiakhy”) is analyzed. Problem-thematic, genre constructs of representation of the Ukrainian language problem as an important means of nation and statehood formation in printed mass media are stated. The role of Ukrainian democratic press in the formation and systematization of the Ukrainian language norms and its expansion are described