Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T11:51:37.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

RUSSIAN AS A LINGUA FRANCA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2006

Aneta Pavlenko
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This chapter surveys recent work on Russian as a lingua franca in the territory of the former Soviet Union. This discussion is subdivided into three sections. First, I review recent historiographies and sociolinguistic analyses of russification policies and practices of the Russian empire and the USSR. Then, I review the work on the changes in the status of Russian in the fourteen post-Soviet countries, which display a wide spectrum of approaches: from continuous Russian dominance in Belarus to vigorous derussification in the Baltic countries. I end with an overview of methodological and theoretical challenges facing this area of study and of its contributions to debates on minority language rights, to definitions of postcolonialism and diaspora, and to the study of negotiation and transformation of identities. I also point to productive directions for future research, such as microsociolinguistic studies of regional varieties of Russian, of language choice and use in daily communication, and of intergenerational transmission.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 26 , January 2006 , pp. 78 - 99
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

OTHER REFERENCES

Aaslund A. (2002). Citizenship status and social exclusion in Estonia and Latvia. Journal of Baltic Studies, 33 (1), 57– 77.Google Scholar
Altynbekova O. (2004). Russkii iazyk v diasporah Kazakhstana. [Russian language in Kazakhstan diasporas]. In A. Mustaioki, & E. Protassova (Eds.), Russkoiazychnyi chelovek v inoiazychnom okruzhenii. [Russians in a second language environment] (pp. 82– 96). Helsinki: Helsinki University Press
Arel D. (1996). A lurking cascade of assimilation in Kiev? Post-Soviet Affairs, 12 (1), 73– 90.Google Scholar
Arel D. (2002). Interpreting ‘nationality' and ‘language' in the 2001 Ukrainian census. Post-Soviet Affairs, 18 (3), 213– 249.Google Scholar
Avina N. (2004). Iazyk russkih v Litve: Slovoobrazovatel'nye osobennosti. [Russian language in Lithuania: Specificities of word formation]. In A. Mustaioki, & E. Protassova (Eds.), Russkoiazychnyi chelovek v inoiazychnom okruzhenii. [Russians in a second language environment] (pp. 136– 142). Helsinki: Helsinki University Press
Barrington L. (2001). Russian-speakers in Ukraine and Kazakhstan: “Nationality,” “population,” or neither? Post-Soviet Affairs, 17 (2), 129– 158.Google Scholar
Belikov V., & Krysin L. (2001). Sotsiolingvistika. [Sociolinguistics]. Moscow: Russian State Humanities University
Bilaniuk L. (2004). A typology of surzhyk: Mixed Ukrainian-Russian language. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8 (4), 409– 425.Google Scholar
Bilaniuk L. (2005). Contested tongues: Language politics and cultural correction in Ukraine. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
Blank S. (1988). The origins of Soviet language policy, 1917–1921. Russian History, 15 (1), 71– 92.Google Scholar
Bruchis M. (1982). One step back, two steps forward: On the language policy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the National Republics (Moldavian: A look back, a survey, and perspectives, 1924–1980). New York: Columbia University Press
Bruchis M. (1988). The USSR: Language and realities. New York: Columbia University Press
Burenina L. (2000). Funktsionirovanie russkogo iazyka v Litve v novyh sotsial'nyh usloviiah. [Functioning of the Russian language in Lithuania under the new social conditions]. In Iazyki Russkoi Federatsii i Novogo Zarubezh'ia: Status i funktsii. [Languages of the Russian Federation and the New Abroad: Status and functions] (pp. 331– 340). Moscow: Editorial URSS.
Chinn J., & Kaiser R. (1996). Russians as the new minority: Ethnicity and nationalism in the Soviet successor states. Boulder, CO: Westview Press
Dave B. (1996). National revival in Kazakhstan: Language shift and identity change. Post-Soviet Affairs, 12 (1), 51– 72.Google Scholar
Dickinson J., & Malanchuk O. (2005). Identity formation and social problems in Estonia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Special issue. Nationalities Papers, 33(3).
Dobson J. (2001). Ethnic discrimination in Latvia. In C. O'Reilly (Ed.), Language, ethnicity, and the state, Volume 2: Minority languages in Eastern Europe post-1989 (pp. 155– 188). Houndsmills/New York: Palrgave Macmillan
Druviete I. (1997). Linguistic human rights in the Baltic States. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 127, 161– 185.Google Scholar
Fein L. (2005). Symbolic boundaries and national borders: The construction of an Estonian Russian identity. Nationalities Papers, 33 (3), 333– 344.Google Scholar
Fierman W. (1998). Language and identity in Kazakhstan: Formulations in policy documents 1987–1997. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 31 (2), 171– 186.Google Scholar
Gavrilina M. (2004). Vospriiatie kul'turologicheskoi informatsii tekstov russkogovoriashchimi uchashchimisia Latvii. [Comprehension of cultural aspects of textual information by Russian students in Latvia]. In A. Mustaioki & E. Protassova (Eds.), Russkoiazychnyi chelovek v inoiazychnom okruzhenii. [Russians in a second language environment] (pp. 222– 225). Helsinki: Helsinki University Press
Goujon A. (1999). Language, nationalism, and populism in Belarus. Nationalities Papers, 27 (4), 661– 677.Google Scholar
Hogan-Brun G. (2003). Baltic national minorities in a transitional setting. In G. Hogan-Brun, & S. Wolff (Eds.), Minority languages in Europe: Framework, status, prospects (pp. 120– 137). Palgrave Macmillan
Hogan-Brun G. (2005a). Language in society across the Baltic republics: A comparative overview. Journal of Baltic Studies, 36 (3), 273– 281.Google Scholar
Hogan-Brun G. (Ed.). (2005b). Language and social processes in the Baltic republics surrounding EU accession. Special issue of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 26.
Jubilus M. (2001). Nationalism and democratic transition: The politics of citizenship and language in post-Soviet Latvia. New York: University Press of America
Kolstoe P. (1995). Russians in the former Soviet republics. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press
Koriakov Iu. (2002). Iazykovaia situatsiia v Belorussii. [Language situation in Belorussia]. Voprosy iazykoznania, 2, 109– 127.Google Scholar
Kosmarskii A. (2004). Ocherk iazykovoi zhizni russkoiazychnyh zhitelei Tashkenta (na primere studencheskoi molodezhi. [An essay about the language life of Russian-speaking inhabitants of Tashkent (based on the example of students)]. In A. Mustaioki, & E. Protassova (Eds.), Russkoiazychnyi chelovek v inoiazychnom okruzhenii. [Russians in a second language environment] (pp. 245– 253). Helsinki: Helsinki University Press
Kreindler I. (1982). The changing status of Russian in the Soviet Union. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 33, 7– 39.Google Scholar
Kreindler I. (Ed.). (1985). Sociolinguistic perspectives on Soviet national languages: Their past, present, and future. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter
Kuzio T. (1998). Ukraine: State and nation building. London/New York: Routledge
Kuzio T. (2005). Nation building, history writing, and competition over the legacy of Kyiv Rusin Ukraine. Nationalities Papers, 33 (1), 29– 58.Google Scholar
Lewis G. (1972). Multilingualism in the Soviet Union: Aspects of language policy and its implementation. The Hague: Mouton
MacWilliams B. (2003, March 14). The Great Game, campus version: The United States and other countries battle for the minds of a former Soviet republic. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
MacWilliams B. (2004, May 21). A delicate balancing act: Former Soviet republics try to re-establish their native languages without discarding Russian. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Masenko L. (2004). Mova i suspil'stvo: Postkolonial'nyi vymirz. [Language and society: A postcolonial dimension]. Kyiv, Ukraine: KM Academy
Masenko L. (Ed.). (2005). Ukraïnska mova u XX storichchi: Istoriia lingvotsydu. [Ukrainian language in the 20th century: History of linguicide]. Kyiv, Ukraine: Prosvita.
Mechkovskaya N. (1994). Iazykovaia situatsia v Belarusi: Etnicheskie kollizii dvuiazychia. [Language situation in Belarus: Ethnic collisions of bilingualism]. Russian Linguistics, 18 (3), 299– 322.Google Scholar
Mechkovskaya N. (2003). Belorusskii iazyk: sotsiolingvisticheskie ocherki. [Belarusian language: Sociolinguistic essays]. München: Specimina philologiae slavicae.
Mechkovskaya N. (2005). Postsovetskii russkii iazyk: Novye cherty v sotsiolingvisticheskom statuse. [Post-Soviet Russian language: New aspects of its sociolinguistic status]. Russian Linguistics, 29 (1), 49– 70.Google Scholar
Melnyk S. (2005). Language attitudes in Ukraine: The case of Ukrainian and Russian. Paper presented at the International Symposium on Bilingualism, Barcelona, March 2005.
Menshikov I. (2003). Russkii iazyk v zakonodatel'nom pole Ukrainy. [Russian language in the legal space of Ukraine]. Informatsionnyi vestnik Foruma rusistov Ukrainy, 5, 46– 53.Google Scholar
Metuzāle-Kangere B., & Ozolins U. (2005). The language situation in Latvia, 1850–2004. Journal of Baltic Studies, 36 (3), 317– 343.Google Scholar
Moore D. (2001). Is the post- in postcolonial the post- in post-Soviet? Toward a global postcolonial critique. PMLA, 116 (1), 111– 128.Google Scholar
Nagzibekova M. (2006). Language situation and language identity in Tajikistan. Paper presented in the colloquium “Russian as a lingua franca in the Near and Far Abroad: Challenges to traditional notions of ‘diaspora' and ‘linguistic identity'” at the 16th Sociolinguistics Symposium, Limerick, Ireland, July 2006.
Ozolins U. (2000). Between Russian and European hegemony: Current language policy in the Baltic states. In S. Wright (Ed.), Language policy and language issues in the successor states of the former USSR (pp. 6– 47). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters
Ozolins U. (2003). The impact of European accession upon language policy in the Baltic states. Language Policy, 2, 217– 238.Google Scholar
Pavlenko A. (2006). Language shift and identity politics in contemporary Ukraine. Paper presented in the colloquium “Russian as a lingua franca in the Near and Far Abroad: Challenges to traditional notions of ‘diaspora' and ‘linguistic identity'” at the 16th Sociolinguistics Symposium, Limerick, Ireland, July 2006.
Payin E. (1994). The disintegration of the empire and the fate of the ‘imperial minority. In V. Shlapentokh, M. Sendich, & E. Payin (Eds.), The new Russian diaspora: Russian minorities in the former Soviet republics (pp. 21– 36). London: M.E. Sharpe
Podporenko Iu. (2001). Bespraven, no vostrebovan: Russkii iazyk v Uzbekistane. [Not legalized but in demand: Russian language in Uzbekistan]. Druzhba narodov, 12. Retrieved November 9, 2005, from http://magazines.russ.ru/druzhba/2001/12/pod-pr.html.
Poppe E., & Hagendoorn L. (2001). Types of identification among Russians in the ‘Near Abroad'. Europe-Asia Studies, 53 (1), 57– 71.Google Scholar
Račevskis K. (2002). Toward a postcolonial perspective on the Baltic states. Journal of Baltic Studies, 33 (1), 37– 56.Google Scholar
Rannut M. (2004). Language policy in Estonia. Revista de Sociolinguistica, Spring-Summer 2004. Retrieved September 15, 2005, from http://www.gencat.net/presidencia/llengcat/noves.
Romanov A. (2000). The Russian diaspora in Latvia and Estonia: Predicting language outcomes. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 21 (1), 58– 71.Google Scholar
Schlyter B. (2004). Changing language loyalties in Central Asia. In T. Bhatia, & W. Ritchie (Eds.), The handbook of bilingualism (pp. 808– 834). Malden, MA: Blackwell
Shaibakova D. (2004). Funktsii i sostoianie russkogo iazyka v Kazahstane. [Functions and state of Russian language in Kazakhstan]. In A. Mustaioki, & E. Protassova (Eds.), Russkoiazychnyi chelovek v inoiazychnom okruzhenii. [Russians in a second language environment] (pp. 179– 187). Helsinki: Helsinki University Press
Sidorov D. (2002). Problema iazykovyh prav v Latviiskoi respublike. [A problem of language rights in the Latvian republic]. Antropologiia, folkloristika, lingvistika, Volume 2 (pp. 389– 408). St. Petersburg: European University
Sinochkina B. (2004). Staroobriadtsy Litvy: Spetsifika iazykovoi lichnosti. [Old Believers of Lithuania: Specific aspects of linguistic identity]. In A. Mustaioki, & E. Protassova (Eds.), Russkoiazychnyi chelovek v inoiazychnom okruzhenii. [Russians in a second language environment] (pp. 67– 81). Helsinki: Helsinki University Press
Stalin J. (1951). Marxism and linguistics. New York: International Publishers
Verschik A. (2004). Aspects of Russian-Estonian codeswitching: Research perspectives. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8 (4), 427– 448.Google Scholar
Verschik A. (2005). The language situation in Estonia. Journal of Baltic Studies, 36 (3), 283– 315.Google Scholar
Vihalemm T., & Masso A. (2003). Identity dynamics of Russian-speakers of Estonia in the transition period. Journal of Baltic Studies, 34 (1), 92– 116.Google Scholar
Wanner C. (1998). Burden of dreams: History and identity in post-Soviet Ukraine. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press
Weeks Th. (1996). Nation and state in late imperial Russia: Nationalism and russification on the Western frontier, 1863–1914. De Kalb, IL: Illinois University Press
Weeks Th. (2001). Russification and the Lithuanians, 1863–1905. Slavic Review, 60 (1), 96– 114.Google Scholar
Woolhiser C. (1995). The sociolinguistic study of language contact and bilingualism in the former Soviet Union: The case of Belarus. In J. Harlig & C. Pleh (Eds.), When East meets West: Sociolinguistics in the former socialist bloc (pp. 63– 88). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter
Zaprudski S. (2002). Language policy in the republic of Belarus. In Belarus – the third sector people, culture, language. Warsaw-Minsk: East European Democratic Centre. Retrieved September 15, 2005 from http://belarusguide.com/culture1/literature/Belarusian_Language_Prosecution_in_Belarus.htm.
Zevelev I. (2001). Russia and its new diasporas. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press