Language Policy in the Soviet
Union
Chapter 8: The Impact of Soviet
Language Policy
The Impact of
Soviet language Policy
• Goals shifted over time, and official goals and
actual policies were often in conflict
– usually this meant that official goals were supportive of
diversity, whereas policies weren’t
• Literacy campaign and spread of Russian were
both very successful
– Urbanization, industrialization and demographic
changes in contributed to spread of Russian
Language shift
• What is language shift and what do we
know about it and contributing factors in the
former USSR?
1. Language shift
• Initially native-language instruction was begun in
many languages, even Ukrainian and Belarusan
• Lenin’s policy guaranteed the right to use a mother
tongue
• Early language planners made significant
investments in developing indigenous languages,
and fieldwork continued throughout Soviet era
1. Language shift, cont’d.
• Russification policies began prior to WWII
and became more overt & intense after the
war
– For example, early use of Latin alphabet
signalled distancing from tsarist Russia, but
switch to Cyrillic in 1939s applied force
aligned with Russification
– 1938 decree made study of Russian obligatory
1. Language shift, cont’d.
• Reforms of 1958-9 made native-language
instruction optional, not obligatory, and opened
the door for monolingual Russian instruction for
all children
• By late Soviet era, the majority of Soviet citizens
were bilingualism in Russian, many people had
given up native languages, but a few groups held
on to their heritage languages
1. Language shift, cont’d.
• USSR supported unidirectional bilingualism: nonRussians learned Russian, but ethnic Russians
remained monolingual
• Between 1970-79 Russian fluency increased for
all ethnic groups (except Estonian), and between
1979-89 it increased for all except Belarusan,
Karakalpak, Komi, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mari,
Tajik, Udmurt, and Uzbek
1. Language shift, cont’d.
• By the 1970s, Russian had become the
primary -- and in many instances the sole -language of education
• But did knowledge of Russian increase
because of schooling, or for other reasons:
role of Russian in society, politics,
government administration, prestige?
1. Language shift, cont’d.
• In 1994, it was estimated that 63 languages in
Russia were endangered, including ALL of the
languages of the North that had been targeted for
development
• Overall figures for languages of the North shows
that for every thousand people, Russian is used by
601 in the home, 758 in school, and 732 at work
• Massive, probably irreversible language shift
Shifting demographics
• What demographic patterns do we see in the
former USSR and how did they affect the
use of languages?
2. Shifting demographics
• The extent to which any individual group acquired
Russian, and maintained or relinquished its
heritage language, is directly correlated with
population density and size, and with the ratio of
Russians to non-Russians living in a given area
• Demographics have been influenced by
differences in birthrate, family size, migrations,
deportations, and urbanization
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• Since 1940 only Tajik and Uzbek birthrates rose,
while at the same time the death rate, which went
down everywhere, went down more, by a half, in
Central Asia -- this means that there was a decline
in population growth in Baltic, Slavic, Georgian,
and Armenian republics (1980 growth rate is 10%
or less, except in Armenia 16.7%), but an increase
in Central Asia and Azerbaijan (where growth rate
is over 20%, except in Azerbaijan 18.2% and
Kazakhstan 17%)
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• In Central Asia, only Kazakhstan had a slight
decline in growth rate (due to large number of
Russians there), but still the overall rate is high
• Central Asia and Azerbaijan (Turkic parts of
USSR) grew much faster than all others
• Slavic and Baltic republics also had highest death
rates in late Soviet era
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• Differences in demographics gave strength
to local populations, their perception of
their own power was certainly a
determining factor in the creation of
language laws in 1989, 1990 and thereafter
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• Stalinist deportations added to ethnic tensions in late
Soviet era
– E.g. 1941 1M Volga germans deported to Central Asia
(mostly Kazakhstan)
• Many Russians emigrated to other republics -- they lived
primarily in cities where they were often dominant,
disproportionately well educated, and placed in more
bureaucratic and educational positions -- their power and
visibility contributed to anti-Russian sentiments
– E.g. In Estonia & Latvia Russians made up nearly half
the population by 1989
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• In Uzbekistan 1959 Uzbeks outnumbered
Russians 4.5 to 1, but in 1989 8.5 to 1; in
Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan there were
proportionally more Russians, so these
republics were more tolerant of Russian
toward the end of the USSR
• Often a large population of Russians caused
panic for a local ethnic group
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• The presence of Russians was more
influential in areas that were previously
sparsely populated with small ethnic groups
-- they suddenly found themselves vastly
outnumbered by Russians, as in the case of
the Selkups
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• Urbanization proceeded as a by-product of
industrialization, and this happened rapidly
in early Soviet era
• Russian was the preferred language in all
professional spheres
• Russians settled in cities, and native peoples
moved to cities too and came in contact
with Russians
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• By end of Soviet era, 25M Russians lived in
non-Russian republics, and constituted 18%
of population there
• Russians were concentrated in cities, and
particularly in capitals
• The language of state business was Russian,
and in the USSR all affairs were state
business
2. Shifting demographics, cont’d.
• Other groups from all over USSR
immigrated to cities, and Russian was the
language of inter-ethnic communication
• Functional bilingualism became a necessity
for local people in cities
The new nativization movements
• Compare nativization movements in 1920s
with those in 1980s-90s. How did they
differ? What were the outcomes?
3. The new nativization
movements
• Early nativization campaign (1920s) was
top-down, characteristic of Soviet era
• 1980s & 1990s -- new nativization (though
it was not called by this name) -independent movements to support
languages & cultures of non-Russians -these are bottom-up
Language laws
• When, why and where were language laws
enacted in the former USSR?
3.1 Language laws
• 1989-90 Republic language laws were a
reaction to Soviet language policies, and
began in late Gorbachev era
– all but RSFSR (language law later, in 1991),
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia -- but language
legislation was in 1978 constitutions of
Caucasian republics
• 1990 All-Union Language Law
3.1 Language laws, cont’d.
• (Most) Republic language laws:
– Identify titular language as official
– Require knowledge of both titular language and
Russian for state employees
– Specify a timeframe (3-8 years -- unrealistic!)
for transition from Russian to titular language
– Reflect widespread public belief in need to
counteract Soviet Russification
3.1 Language laws, cont’d.
• 1990 All-Union Language Law
– Futile attempt to regain control of language
legislation in the Republics
– Declared Russian the official language of the
USSR
– Declared right of republics to establish their
languages as state languages (which they had
already done)
3.1 Language laws, cont’d.
• RSFSR was last republic to act on language
legislation, in Oct 1991 (re-ratified in 1993)
– Declared Russian official
– Left status of other languages to republics (21
new republics established in Russian
Federation) -- most grant official status to both
titular language and Russian
• Daghestan declares all written languages official
3.1 Language laws, cont’d.
• Official languages of republics in Russian
Federation are: Adyge, Altai, Balkar, Bashkir,
Buriat, Chuvash, Eryza, Ingush, KabardianCircassian, Kalmyk, Karachay, Khakass, KomiZyrian, High & Low Mari, Moksha, Osetin,
Russian, Tatar, Tuvin, Udmurt, Yakut, plus in
Daghestan: Avar, Dargwa, Kumyk, Lak, Lezgi,
Nogai, Tabassaran; also: Chechen, Karelian,
Komi-Permyak
• Current policies are implemented at local level
3.2 Local-level reactions
• 1980s resurgence of interest in language
instructions in schools, but by then it was
necessary to teach ”native” languages as if
they were foreign languages
– Grass-roots movements among Dolgans,
Itelmen, Khanty-Mansi, Ngasanan, Saami,
Selkups, Yupiks results in 1990 Association of
Northern Minorities
3.2 Local-level reactions, cont’d.
• Grass-roots endeavors face lack of resources,
economic prestige of Russian, cutbacks in
classroom hours for indigenous languages -prognosis is not good
• Sometimes local peoples reject indigenous
instruction as an unneccesary burden
• Soviet policy shaped a need for knowledge of
Russian, and that persists, creating a society that is
effectively monolingual
Conclusion
• Soviet era showed dramatic increase of use in
Russian, and language shift (loss of indigenous
languages)
• Russian became essential for any member of
society to participate in government, receive
education, and work
• The spread of Russian fostered ill will that was a
critical factor in the downfall of the USSR
Conclusion, cont’d.
• It was ultimately impossible to create a Soviet
people without nationalistic or ethnic identities
• By the time of the breakup of the USSR, all
languages and cultures felt endangered
• Heightened awareness of importance of language
in preservation and continuation of culture
• Lack of financial resources continues to hamper
efforts at language development