Language Policy in the Soviet Union

1
Language Policy in the Soviet Union

• Chapter 5 The Caucasus

2
Overview of the Caucasus

• One of the most linguistically diverse areas of
  the world
  
• Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, and
  parts of Russian SFSR (Chechnia, Ingushetia,
  Daghestan)
  

3
Overview of the Caucasus, contd.

• Armenian Indo-European (the only I-E language in
  the Caucasus), long literary tradition, unique
  script
  
• Georgian S. Caucasian (Kartvelian) , long
  literary tradition, unique script
  
• Azerbaijani Turkic, Arabic script until 1929,
  Latin 1929-1939, Cyrillic since 1939
  
• PLUS Dozens of other minority groups and
  languages, most with only oral traditions

4
Overview of the Caucasus, contd.

• Titular languages (Armenian, Azerbaijani,
  Georgian) competed with Russian, but minority
  languages competed with both Russian and titular
  languages
• Only titular languages had consistent support in
  educational system, plus Abkhazian

5
Demographics and Historical Overview

• Transcaucasia is bounded by Caucasus, Caspian,
  and Black Seas, and includes Georgia, Armenia,
  and Azerbaijan, plus Daghestan ASSR and
  Chechen-Ingush ASSR (both part of Russian SFSR)
• 1918 Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan declare
  independence
  
• 1921 Red Army marches into Georgia
• There were attempts to keep the three territories
  in one Republic until 1936
  

6
Demographics and Historical Overview, contd.

• Ten largest languages in the Caucasus
  Azerbaijani (5.5M), Armenian (4.1M), Georgian
  (3.5M), Chechen (756K), Avar (483K), Lezgi
  (383K), Dargwa (287K), Kumyk (228K), Ingush
  (186K), Lak (100K), and for all of these over 90
  of population claimed the indigenous language as
  their native tongue in 1979

7
Ethnicity in the Caucasus

• COMPLEX!
• Four groups
• Circassian/Adyghe tribes of NE and Black Sea
  coast (Adyghes, Cherkess, Kabardians)
  
• Indigenous Caucasian nations (Chechen, Ingush)
• Descendants of locals 13th c Turkic invaders
  (Karacay, Balkars, Kumyks)
  
• Iranian-speakers (Ossetians)
• And much smaller groups

8
Ethnicity in the Caucasus, contd.

• Ethnicity cannot be established purely on the
  basis of linguistics, due to migrations and
  deportations
  
• Some groups did not have an established
  name/identity for themselves as a whole (beyond
  level of tribe/clan/religion), and used
  place-names to refer to themselves, but Soviets
  imposed ethnonyms and boundaries where they were
  missing

9
Overview of language policy in Caucasus

• High language density diversity made
  implementation of Soviet language planning
  difficult
  
• Several, well-established written languages
  Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian these
  made it hard to implement Russification
  
• Phonological complexity of many languages made it
  hard to devise orthography

10
The Georgian SSR

• 70 (5.4M) Georgian, 7 Russian, 5 Azerbaijani
• Caucasian, Indo-European (Russian, Armenian,
  Osetin), and Afro-Asiatic (Assyrian, Neo-Aramaic,
  Semitic) languages

11
The Georgian SSR, contd.

• 337 CE converted to Christianity and developed
  written language in 5th c
  
• Very high literacy rates, well-established sense
  of ethnic identity equated with linguistic
  identity, which they fought hard to retain
  throughout Soviet era
• 1970 99 claimed Georgian as first language, only
  23 claimed Russian as second language (but these
  figures might overreport Georgian)

12
The Georgian SSR, contd.

• Mid-1970s attempt to make Russian the majority
  language, promoted by Shevardnadze, all higher
  education was to be only in Russian
  
• 1978 attempt to annul status of Georgian as
  official language of the Republic, 5K students
  protested, attempt was dropped

13
Status of Caucasian Languages in Georgian SSR

• Abkhaz (91K), Cyrillic alphabet in 1862, 1926-8
  Latin alphabet, 1929 another version of Latin
  alphabet, 1938 Georgian alphabet adopted, Abkhaz
  was subjected to Georgianization, use of and
  instruction in Abkhaz was banned, but schools
  reopened after Stalin died
• Osetin also used Georgian alphabet
• 1954 Abkhaz Osetin converted to Cyrillic

14
Status of Caucasian Languages in Georgian SSR,
contd.

• 3 other South Caucasian languages spoken in
  Georgia Laz (2K), Mingrelian (.5M), Svan (35K)
  -- were not developed as written languages
  
• Laz Mingrelian were lumped together as a single
  Zan language, despite mutual incomprehensibility
  
  
• Mingrelians are bilingual with Georgian or Abkhaz
  and consider themselves Georgian
  
• Laz -- most speakers are in Turkey, and use
  Turkish as literary language, but those in
  Georgia use Georgian as literary language, like
  the Mingrelians

15
Status of Caucasian Languages in Georgian SSR,
contd.

• Bats (3K), a Nakh-Daghestanian language, all are
  bilingual with Georgian, which they use as
  literary language, children are not learning
  Bats, which is endangered 1859 grammar of Bats
  published (in German)

16
Status of Caucasian Languages in Georgian SSR,
contd.

• Soviet promises of native language education
  never realized for Bats, Mingrelian, Svan
  
• Only Abkhaz was developed, but only alongside
  Georgian Russian, and it suffered under
  pressure from both
  
• Strong Georgian commitment to retaining their
  language
  
• Russians emigrated and there is very little
  Russian instruction in Georgia in post-Communist
  era

17
The Armenian SSR

• Literary language since 406 CE spoken language
  has since diverged phonetically many dialects
  
• Smallest most homogeneous Caucasian republic,
  3.3M 93 Armenian, similar number live in
  diaspora, troubled history with Turkey
  
• 1918-20 independent early Soviet years tolerated
  Armenian nationalism situation reversed after
  Great Purges 1936-38
  
• Soviet orthographical reforms 1922 1940
• 1978 Protests reversed attempt to remove
  guarantee of Armenian as official language
  
• Overall, Soviet language policy has had little
  impact on Armenian

18
The Azerbaijan SSR

• Largest of 3 Caucasian republics, includes
  Nagorno-Karabagh (embattled Armenian population),
  part of it is non-contiguous (separated by
  Armenia, adding to tensions)
• Azerbaijani identity is new previously referred
  to as Turks, Tatars, Caucasian Muslims
  
• Border with Iran S. Azerbaijani spoken in Iran
• Pan-Turkic identity discouraged by Soviet state
• Switch from nativization to Russification after
  the Purges
  
• Switch from Arabic to Latin script in 1929
  first Turkic people to use Latin script

19
The North Caucasus

• S. part of RSFSR bordering Azerbaijan Georgia,
  bounded by Black Sea Caspian Sea
  
• Conquered by Tsar 1780s, embattled ever since
• Soviets pursued policy of fragmenting the region
  into small parts to keep down resistance massive
  forced exile of key ethnic groups (Balkar,
  Chechen, Ingush, Kalmyk, Karachay) in 1940s (over
  2M!)
• 1956 Krushchev denounced deportations and
  rehabilitates citizens, but impact is huge

20
Daghestan

• Autnomonous territory in RSFSR, 1.9M, extreme
  language density
  
• 30 languages, 10 developed (though not
  thoroughly) as literary languages
  
• Pre-Soviet period Arabic for religion law,
  Russian for trade some administration,
  Azerbaijani Kumyk for communication between
  mountain and plains people, Avar Lezgi for
  communication within regions, indigenous
  languages for local purposes
• Soviet period domination of Azerbaijani
  Russian diminishes all other languages

21
Linguistic map of Daghestan

• No Caucasian languages in Daghestan had a written
  form at time of Bolshevik Revolution
  
• See table pp. 128-9
• In Soviet times, Russian was sole lingua franca,
  sole language of higher education

22
Language Planning and Development

• Switch from Arabic to Azerbaijan had begun before
  Bolshevik Revolution and led to a sense of
  pan-Turkic identity
  
• Daghestani Bolshevik leaders initially promoted a
  return to Arabic in order to reduce pan-Turkic
  identity Arabic was official until 1923, when
  Azerbaijani was declared official and then
  replaced by Kumyk, and some indigenous languages
  were also developed

23
Language Planning and Development, contd.

• 1928 Official languages Azerbaijani, Kumyk,
  Nogai (Turkic) Avar, Chechen, Dargin, Lak, Lezgi
  (Caucasian) Tat (Iranian) Russian
  
• Effectively, Russian became the only lingua
  franca
  
• Indigenous languages written with Arabic script
  initially 1928 converted to Latin script 1938
  converted to Cyrillic never developed beyond
  elementary school use

24
Chechen and Ingush

• Chechen Ingush are closely related, but not
  mutually intelligible, but most people are
  passively bilingual
  
• Chechen (almost 1M) is the second largest
  Caucasian language (after Georgian) Ingush 273K
  
• Chechen also was written in Arabic, then Latin,
  then Cyrillic script retention is high 98 in
  1989

25
Chechen and Ingush, contd.

• 1944 Chechen Ingush nationalities abolished and
  people deported to Kazakhstan Siberia (nearly
  half died in transit)
  
• 1956 allowed to return, but did not get their
  property back, and some were denied employment
  rights
  
• All classrooms were multi-ethnic, and Russian
  became language of instruction
  
• Chechen language teachers begin training in 1981

26
Summary View of the Caucasus

• Policies designed to fragment the region
• Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani remained
  strong and did not suffer much from
  Russification, nor did urban centers
  
• Armenia relatively homogeneous
• Only 0.4 of Armenians Georgians, and only 1.9
  of Azerbaijanis speak Russian as a first
  language
  
• Knowledge of Russian as a second language
• Erevan 35.5 in 1959 60.6 in 1979
• Baku 46 in 1959 62.9 in 1979
• Tbilisi 42 in 1959 32.7 in 1979

27
Kalmyk

• 173K, with 90 ethnic groups in their Autonomous
  SSR (and 38 Russians)
  
• Kalmyk, a Mongolian language, uses Classical
  Mongolian as its literary language
  
• 1924 converted to Cyrillic 1931 converted to
  Latin 1938 converted to Cyrillic
  
• Language instruction in Kalmyk begun in 1990