Models of language competition usually favor the central language over those of the peripheries. Yet the Russian language has failed to establish its hegemony both in the tsarist and Soviet empires. While the tsarist period is briefly touched upon in the Introduction, the paper concentrates on the "missed second opportunity"—the Soviet and post-Soviet period. It attempts to explain the causes for the second failure against a broad historical background, beginning with Lenin's generous linguistic policy, through the elevation of Russian as the language of the "Soviet People" and of the "Communist Future" in the post-Stalin period, to the current (1992) retreat under local and global challenges. The role of language grievances in promoting national self-assertiveness and causing the present anti-Russian backlash in the republics is highlighted. The paper ends with a discussion of the future prospects of Russian as a second language.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Akhundova, A. (1990). "Kogda ne budut 'chistykh' i 'ne chistykh'?" Literaturnaia gazeta, No. 39, Sept. 26.
2.
Baranova, I.T. and N.S. Rozyeva (1977). "Iz istorii prepodavaniia russkogo iazyka v nerusskikh shkolakh SSSR." Sovetskaia pedagogika, 12: 115-123.
3.
Bennigsen, A. and L. Quelquejay (1961). The Evolution of Muslim Nationalities of the USSR and their Linguistic Problems. London: Central Asian Research Center.
4.
Bilinsky, Y. (1962). "The Soviet Education Laws of 1958-1959 and Soviet Nationality Policy." Soviet Studies, XIV: 138-157.
5.
Bilinsky, Y. (1964). The Second Soviet Republic: The Ukraine after World War II. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.
6.
Borshch, A. (1972). "Russkii iazyk." Sovetskaia Moldavia , Oct. 26.
7.
Carlisle, D. (1991). "Uzbek and the Uzbeks." Problems of Communism, No. 5.
8.
CDSP—Current Digest of the Soviet Press.
9.
CDPSP—Current digest of the Post-Soviet Press.
10.
Clem, R.S. (1990). "Belorussians." In The Nationalities Question in the Soviet Union, (G. Smith ed.). London: Longman.
11.
Crisp, S. (1985). "The Formation and Development of Literary Avar ." In Soviet Perspectives on National Languages, (I. Kreindler, ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
12.
Crisp, S. (1989). "Soviet Language Planning 1917-1953." In Language Planning in the Soviet Union, ( M. Kirkwood, ed). London: Macmillan .
13.
Critchlow, J. (1989). "Uzbeks Demand Eliminating Non-Native Place Names ." Report on the USSR, No 3, Jan. 20.
Desheriev, Iu. D. (1979). "Natsional 'nye otnosheniia v zrelom sotsialisticheskom obshchestve i razvitie dvuiazychiia." In Puti Razvitiia natsional'no-russkogo dvuiazychiia v nerusskikh shkolakh RSFSR. Moscow: Nauka.
18.
de Swaan, A. (1988). In Care of the State: Health Care, Education and Welfare in Europe and the USA in the Modern Era. New York : Oxford University Press.
19.
de Swaan, A. (1991). "Notes on the emerging global language system: regional, national and supranational." Media, Culture and Society, 13: 309-323.
Egiazarian, A.M. (1992). "Kakoi zhe bilingvizm nam nuzhen?" RIASNG, Nos 4-6, 5-9.
22.
Fierman, W. (1979). "Nationalism, language planning and development in Soviet Uzbekistan." Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University.
23.
Fierman, W. (1982). "The View from Uzbekistan." Internatianal Journal of Sociology ofLanguage, 33: 71-78.
24.
Fierman, W. (1985). "Language Development in Soviet Uzbekistan." In Soviet Perspectives on National Languages in the Soviet Union, (I. Kreindler, ed.). Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter.
25.
Filin, F. (1972). "Sovremennoe obshchestvennoe razvitie i problemy dvuiazychiia." In Problemy dvuizychiia i mnogoiazychiia. Moscow: Nauka.
26.
Fishman, J. (1972). Language in Sociocultural Change. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
27.
Gleason, G. (1990). Federalism and Nationalism: The Struggle for Republican Rights in the USSR. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
28.
Isaev, M.I. (1970). Sto tridtsat'ravnopravnykh. Moscow: Nauka.
29.
Isaev, M.I. (1978). O iazykakh narodov SSSR. Moscow : Nauka.
30.
Isaev, M.I. (1990). "Iazyk i zakon." RIANSH, No. 7: 3-6.
Khanazarov, K.Kh. (1963). Sblizhenie natsii i natsional'nye iazyki v SSSR . Tashkent: Akademiia Nauk Uzbekskoi SSR.
33.
Khansuvarov, I. (1932). Latinizatsiia—orudie Leninskoi natsional'noi politiki. Moscow: Politizdat.
34.
Khrushchev, N.S. (1961). "O programme Kommunisticheskoi partii Sovetskogo Soiuza." Moscow: Gospolitizdat.
35.
Kirkwood, M. (1987). "Russian Language Teaching Policy in Soviet Central Asia 1958-86." Paper presented at Second European Seminar on Central Asian Studies, 7-10 April.
36.
Kirkwood, M. (1991). "'Glasnost,' 'The National Question' and Soviet Language Policy." Soviet Studies, 43, (1): 61-81.
37.
Konovaliuk, O.I. (1982). "Nesostoiatel'nost' burzhuaznykh kontsepstii rusifikatsii i dezintegratsii sovetskogo gosudarstva." Voprosy istorii , No 11, 69-83.
38.
Kreindler, I.T. (1969). "Educational Policies toward the Eastern Nationalities in Tsarist Russia." Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University.
39.
Kreindler, I.T. (1981). "Teaching Russian Esthetics to the Kirgiz." The Russian Review, 40, (3): 333-338.
40.
Kreindler, I.T. (1982a). "The Changing Status of Russian in the Soviet Union." International Journal of the Sociology of Language , 33: 7-39.
41.
Kreindler, I.T. (1982b). "Lenin, Russian, and Soviet Linguistic Policy ." International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 33: 129-135.
42.
Kreindler, I.T. (1985a). "The Mordvinian Languages: A Survival Saga." In Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages, (I. Kreindler, ed.). Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter.
43.
Kreindler, I.T. (1985b). "The Non-Russian Languages and the Challenge of Russian." In Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages, (I. Kreindler, ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
44.
Kreindler, I.T. (1989). "Soviet Language Planning since 1953." In Language Planning in the Soviet Union, ( M. Kirkwood, ed.). London: Macmillan .
45.
Kreindler, I.T. (1991). "Forgiving a Soviet People: Ethnolinguistics in Central Asia." In Central Asia: The Failed Transformation, (W. Fierman, ed.). Boulder CO : Westview Press.
Laitin, D., R. Petersen, and J.W. Slocum, (1992). "Language and the State: Russia and the Soviet Union in Comparative Perspective." In Thinking Theoretically About Soviet Nationalities, (A. Motyl, ed.). New York: Columbia University Press .
49.
Laponce, J.A. (1991). "The Global Competition Among Languages: Processes of Contagion and Radiation." Paper delivered at the Amsterdam Conference on World Languages.
Lewis, G. (1972). Multilingualism in the Soviet Union. The Hague: Mouton.
53.
Litvinova, Irina. (1991). "Who will get an education in Latvia?" Izvestiia, July 6, as translated in CDSP, Vol. 43, No. 27: 21-22.
54.
Mazipov, R.G. (1982). "Istoriko-bytovoi, stranovedcheskii i etnokul'turovedcheskii kommentarii na urokakh russkogo iazyka." RIALKSH, No 1: 16-19.
55.
Misiunas, R. and R. Taagapera, (1983). The Baltic States: Years of Dependence, 1940-1980 . London: Hurst.
56.
Motyl, A.J. (1990). Sovietology, Rationality, Nationality: Coming to Grips with Nationalism in the USSR. New York: Columbia University Press.
57.
Pool, J. (1978). "Soviet Language Policy: Goals, results, options ." In Soviet Nationalities, Policies and Practices, (J. Azrael, ed.). New York: Praeger.
58.
Pool, J. (1980). "Whose Russian Language? Problems in the Definition of Linguistic Identity." In Ethnic Russia in the USSR: the dilemma of dominance, (A.E. Allworth, ed.). New York: Pergamon.
59.
RFE/RL—Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (as of 1992).
60.
Report USSR—Report on the USSR (Radio Liberty, Munich).
Sheehy, A. (1987). "Buryats Regain Education in Native Language." Radio Liberty, Munich. 355/87, August 31.
74.
Shevardnadze, E. (1977). "Internatsionalisticheskoe vospitanie mass." Kommunist, 13, (Sept.): 35-49.
75.
Silver, B. (1974). "The Status of National Minority Languages in Soviet Education: An Assessment of Recent Changes." Soviet Studies, 26 (1): 28-40.
76.
Simon, G. (1986). Nationalismus und Nationalitatenpolitik in der Sowjetunion. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft.
77.
Solchanyk, R. (1982). "Russian Language and Soviet Politics." Soviet Studies, 34 (1): 23-42.
78.
Solchanyk, R. (1985). "Language Politics in the Ukraine." In Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages, (I. Kreindler, ed.). pp. 57-105. Berlin : Mouton de Gruyter.
79.
Sovetkin, F.F. and N.V. Taldin , (eds.) (1958). Natsionl'nye shkoly RSFSR za sorok let. Moscow: Akademiia Pedagogicheskikh Nauk.
Vinogradov, V.V. et al. (1964). "Doklady." In Voprosy razvitiia literaturnykh iazykov narodov SSSR. Alma Ata: Akademiia Nauk Kaz SSR.
82.
Wexler, P. (1974). Purism and Language. A case study in modern Ukrainian and Belorussian Nationalism (1840-1967). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
83.
Wexler, P. (1979). "The Rise (and Fall) of the Modern Byelorussian Literary Language." The Slavonic and East European Review , 57, (4): 481-508.
84.
Wexler, P. (1985). "Belorussification, Russification and Polonization ." In Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages , (I. Kreindler, ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
