scholarly journals Language Policy of the CIS Countries: Current State and Prospects

Author(s):  
Anton A. Lavitski

Language policy issues are inextricably linked with the socio-political vectors of development of a state. The significance of this problem field is actualised with a number of examples from modern history, when the "language issue" became a source of social tension, led to various kinds of conflicts, including interstate ones. The article is devoted to the analytical study of the modern specifics of language policy in the CIS countries. Research attention is focused on nine states that are active members of the integration association (Ukraine, which de facto does not participate in the activities of the Commonwealth, and Russia are not considered due to the presence of administrative national autonomies and the number of different ethno-cultural communities, as well as the need to reflect in the work the peculiarities of the functioning of the Russian language, which has a special status in the region). The practice of implementing the language policy pursued in the CIS countries allows to generalize and compare the experience of states that have relatively recently received sovereignty and the ability to form an appropriate agenda independently. The analysis made it possible to identify the general directions of language policy, typical for individual countries: 1) protection of the languages of the titular nation with the consolidation of their status as the only state and official for all spheres of communicative interaction (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan); 2) carrying out an alphabetical reform in order to switch to the Latin alphabet (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan); 3) implementation of the policy of state bi- or polylingualism (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan); 4) attempts to solve precedent linguistic problems (nomination of the state language for Moldova, the status of the Russian language for Armenia and Georgia).

Author(s):  
Vesna Kosmajac ◽  

This paper presents a sociolinguistic analysis of the current linguistic situation in the Russian Federation. Preservation and development of the Russian language represents the national interest of the state. The Russian language has the status of a state language, but, given the large number of ethnic groups living on the territory of Russia, it must not jeopardise other national languages, as this could lead to inter-ethnic conflicts. Some of the key issues Russia is currently facing in this field are: the process of globalisation, the uncontrolled penetration of anglicisms into the Russian language, the adverse impact of the Internet and social networks on literacy, especially with the younger population. All valid rules of the Russian orthography are, in fact, prescribed by the Government of The Russian Federation. Laws regulating the area of language policy are the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Law on the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation, and the Law on the State Language of the Russian Federation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 62-95
Author(s):  
I. A. Kurshunova ◽  
E. R. Guseva

The current state of the study of Russian dialects in Karelian Seaside is analyzed, the territory of the studied region, which coincides with the boundaries of the dialectal division of the Russian language in 1915 is indicated. It is shown that the exclusion of Karelian Seaside from the dialectal division of 1965, which was an indirect reason for the lack of proper research attention to this region is unjustified. An overview of linguistic works devoted to the study of various language levels (phonetic, grammatical, lexical) is presented. The review of dictionaries, including the vocabulary of Russian dialects of the Karelian Seaside, is carried out. The prospects and objectives of the study are determined. In particular, future research is associated with comparative work on the study of the preservation / change of linguistic phenomena at each level, including the lexical one, which is the most stable in its main core. It is primarily due to extralinguistic reasons. Particular attention is paid to the use of digital technologies when creating a textual database, tested on the materials of the Karelian Seaside. It is noted that the electronic resource will make it possible to constantly introduce new data into scientific circulation, connecting them to various aspects of research, both linguistic and broader humanitarian.


Author(s):  
Vadim M. Shneider ◽  

The article considers issues related to the status and role of the Russian language in the post-Soviet space. It is emphasized that Russian language remains one of the main factors that still unites the countries of the post-Soviet region, different from a socio-cultural point of view. The author pays special attention to the study of the Russian language in schools. It is noted that in a number of states in the region, the Russian language is compul- sory for learning. These countries include Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In Ukraine, Georgia, Moldo- va, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Turkmenistan, Russian language is taught in secondary schools as a second foreign language. The author emphasizes that language policy does not always correspond to the language environment, which develops naturally and depends on a number of socio-cultural factors. In this regard, the author considers in detail the linguistic situation in each of the countries of the post-Soviet space. In the final part of the article, the author emphasizes that the prospects for studying the Russian language in the post-Soviet countries depend on various factors: the level of training of teachers, the demand for the Russian language, the preservation of the Rus- sian-speaking environment and the pursuit of a flexible language policy.


2021 ◽  
pp. 30-53
Author(s):  
Svitlana Sokolova ◽  

This article examines the main approaches to the study of Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism in Ukraine in research of Ukrainian and foreign scholars. Though Ukrainian and Russian are language codes represented by a large number of speakers, due to cognation and diffuse nature of bilingualism the number of communicative deviations between members of different language com- munities is quite low. Language situation after reestablishing Ukraine’s independence in 1991 shows a shift in status of the two languages towards Ukrainian. Nevertheless, strong support of the status of Russian from the Russian Federation cannot be excluded alongside a postcolonial mentality factor which complicates the already difficult process of nationalizing the Ukrainian language. Fragmentation of information, varying degrees of reliability and non-compliance with the historical approach, the difference in views on the function of the state language in Ukraine and Russia and minor errors in information about Ukraine may cause a distortion of the ob jective picture in one’s research. All this brings up an idea of adjusting the functional load of languages in Ukraine towards strengthening the position of the Russian language. At the same time, comprehensive studying of the language situation in Ukraine enables the most objective evaluation of the bilingual situation placing it under different parameters and tracing its dynamics in or der to determine the features of regional bilingualism. Keywords: bilingualism, native language, Ukrainian language, Russian language, language of everyday communication, functional load of languages, language situation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-83
Author(s):  
E. A. Markova

In its almost three decades history, Ukrainian language policy has gone through several stages of its development. Formed before the collapse of theUSSR, the Ukrainian elite actively used the issue of the language to achieve its political goals. Even at the turn of the 80-90s of the last century, the issue on the status of the Russian language was in the focus of the political struggle. Relying on the party and bureaucratic apparatus support, the nationalistically-spirited elite ofUkrainebegan to use the language issue for winning over the population of the southeastern regions. At that time, it was of great importance, since before the collapse of theUSSR, the Ukrainian elite was interested in preventing the growth of protest sentiment within the country. In subsequent years, the issue of the Russian language status has repeatedly become the subject of intense political battles and speculation as well. The Party of Regions, the Communist Party exploited the theme of “protecting” the Russian language to consolidate their electorate before the parliamentary and presidential elections. Concurrently, the Western Ukrainian elites defended a different position, proposing to expand the scope of the Ukrainian language while at the same time confine the Russian language.Despite the turmoil between the Western Ukrainian and Eastern Ukrainian elites, especially during the pre-election periods,Ukrainegradually “drifted” towards restricting the use of the Russian language and expanding Ukrainian in education and culture.The situation in the linguistic sphere inUkrainechanged dramatically after 2014, when representatives of nationalist forces came to power. It became a policy to revise the legislation governing on the use of languages of national minorities, to which the Russian language began to fall into. As a result, the possibilities for using the Russian language were confined, while enhancing the role of the Ukrainian language. This situation has already aggravated the relations betweenUkraineand neighboring countries, in which they negatively evaluatedUkraine’s policy in the language sphere. In addition, limited scope for the Russian language has ratcheted up tension within the country, provoking new inter-regional contradictions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
A.D. Vasilyev ◽  

Issues of language policy are constantly relevant for any state, including Russia, which is a multinational country as stated officially. According to the current constitution, the Russian language is the state language of the Russian Federation; amendments to the 2020 Basic Law have finally and justly established the state-forming status of the Russian people. Naturally, the current speech-communicative processes in different spheres of life of society give rise to various conflicts. This also applies to the field of official communication – lawmaking, law enforcement, legal procedures, etc. Therefore, the sporadic attention of the authorities to the use of the Russian language as a state language is understandable. This was the key in the agenda of the meeting of the Russian Language Council, held on November 5, 2019 under the personal chairmanship of the President Vladimir V. Putin. However, the meeting participants did not pay due attention to a number of rather obvious problems that arise in this regard. Among them are, in particular, the pressing tasks of clearly differentiating stable varieties of the use of the national language and their normative labelling, some methodological principles of practical lexicography, probable linguodidactic innovations and specific forms of their implementation; finally, issues of juridical linguistics and of legal nature. The purpose of the article is to analyze the terminological aspect of language policy in Russia. As a result, it is obvious that the term “state language” should be filled with a clear conceptual content. This will also strengthen its place in the public consciousness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 37-48
Author(s):  
T. V. Dubrovskaya ◽  
E. I. Kozhevnikova

The article addresses the issue of language situation and language policy through the analysis of legislation. Taking a social constructionist approach to law, the authors claim that a legal text can be explored for the purpose of discovering typical representations and linguistic resources that conceptualise languages, language situation and language policy. The paper offers a concise overview of domestic and foreign scholarship in the field as well as offering definitions for the basic categories used in the research. The analysis of the Russian Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” shows that the Russian language is constructed as a state language, which has a few aspects. It is represented as an instrument of national unity, an instrument of maintaining culture, and an instrument of international impact. In terms of semantic roles, the Russian language is represented not only as an agent and instrument, but also as a patient, the object of negative and positive impact. The contexts mentioning the Russian language and other languages and idioms construct the relations between the languages as mutually reinforcing (thus, constructing the semantics of unity) or mutually excluding (thus, constructing the semantics of opposition).


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 150-169
Author(s):  
Svetlana N. Perevolochanskaya

The article considers the current state of the Russian language. Information technologies in the twenty first century present diverse forms of linguistic knowledge and modalities of knowledge quantisation in a linguistic sign. The Russian language develops from a standard, direct expression of thoughts to a nonstandard, psychologically complex, associative deep statement of thoughts. In the early nineteenth century, during the democratisation of the Russian language, a national genius, Alexander Pushkin, emerged. Thanks to him, the unique informational, cultural, and artistic evolution of the language took place. Nowadays, while democratisation and globalisation, processes which resemble the language evolution 200 years ago, are occurring. These processes suggest some patterns: overcoming stylistic disparity, changes in linguistic sign boundaries and semantic extension.


Author(s):  
Г. Кульбаева

Аннотация. В статье рассматривается вопрос о функционировании русского языка в образовательном пространстве КГМА. Большое место в работе занимает роль русского языка в учебной деятельности студентов-медиков. Мотивацией к изучению именно, русского языка являются следующие факторы: статус официального языка; возможность привлечь внимание широкого круга специалистов к своим исследованиям; понимание престижности русского языка. В статье нашли отражение различные формы работы по расширению сферы использования русского языка в медицинской академии. В работе уделено внимание и профильным учебным пособиям, разработанным автором статьи. Анализ некоторых заданий позволяет констатировать тот факт, что содержание пособии определено через компетенции, одной из которых является языковая. Ключевые слова:язык обучения, фундаментальные науки, соматические ФЕ, компетентностная основа, профессиональная направленность, жаргонная лексика. Аннотация. Макалада КММАнын билим берүү мейкиндеги орус тилин өздөштүү маселеси каралат. Орус тили студент-медиктердин окуу ишмердигинде чоң роль ойнойт. Расмий тил статусу, өз изилдөөлөрүнө көпчүлүк адистердин көңүлүн буруу мүмкүнчүлүгү, орус тилинин баркын түшүнүү, өзгөчөлөп билүүгө далил болуп эсептелет. Макалада медициналык академияда орус тили колдонуу чөйрөсүн кеңейтүү боюнча иштөөнү ар кандай формалары көрсөтүлгөн. Эмгекте макаланын автору иштеп чыккан адистик окуу колдонмолорго да көңул бурулган. Кээ бир тапшырмалардын анализи колдонмонун мазмуну компетенция, анын бирөөсү тил аркылуу аныкталганын факт катары көрсөтүүгө мүмкүндүк түзөт. Түйүндүү сөздөр: фундаменталдык илимдер, соматикалык фразеологизмдер, компетенттик негиз, профессионалдык багытталыш, жаргондук лексика. Summary. The article discusses the Russian language functioning in the of the KSMA’s educational space. Russian language plays a big role in the educational activity of the medical students. The main motivation of learning the Russian language has the following points: the status of the official language; the opportunity to attract the attention of a wide range of specialists to their research; understanding of the prestige of the Russian language. The article reflected various forms of work to expand the scope of the use of the Russian language at the medical academy. The work focuses on specialized textbooks developed by the author of the article. An analysis of some tasks allows us to state the fact that the content of the manual is determined through competencies, one of which is the language. Key words: teaching language, fundamental sciences, somatic phraseological unit, slang vocabulary.


Author(s):  
Iuliya Makarets

The article focuses on the issue of legislative regulation of linguistic relationships in Ukraine. The ability of a national language to function as a means of consolidation and national identification depends to a large extent on state linguistic policy, political support that the language receives. The state legislation on language is indicative in this regard while it establishes the status of languages, the linguistic model and the linguistic regime. In accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine, the Ukrainian language is a state language in Ukraine. The dynamics of the Ukrainian legislation on languages illustrates the inconsistency of the implementation of this constitutional norm. The article analyzes the milestones of its formation. The content of the basic laws in the sphere of linguistic relationships (Law of the USSR ‘On Languages in the Ukrainian SSR’ (1989), the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Principles of the State Language Policy’ (2012), which is invalid now, and the new Law of Ukraine ‘On the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as a State Language’ (2019)), the socio-political tendencies, that preceded their adoption, their evaluation by tpublic and world community as well as their consequences for linguistic situation in Ukraine are described. The possibility of official bilingualism approving is studied. The article analyzes historical, cultural and political preconditions for the adoption of official bi- or multilingualism by other states, acceptability of this linguistic model for Ukraine and possibility to overcome existing linguistic contradictions.


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