Language

1
Language Nationalism in Europe

• Chapter 12 Coming to terms with the past
  Language nationalism in Russia and its neighbors

2
Overview

• Discussion limited to
• Ukraine, Belarus, Russian Federation (European
  part only) East Slavs
• Moldova (ties to Romania)
• Estonia (ties to Finland)
• Latvia, Lithuania (historically tied to Poland
  parts of Ukraine) Balts

3
Russian influence in the region

• Russia, as a major Orthodox power since 15th c,
  has influenced Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, and
  Romanians
• All of the states discussed in this chapter were
  provinces of the Romanov empire until 1917, and
  then parts of the former Soviet Union
• Large numbers of Russians settled in all of these
  states, esp. since WWII

4
Jews and Germans in the region

• All states in the region have small minorities of
  Jews
• 1648-1654 100K Jews massacred in Ukraine
• Persecution of Jews (pogroms) continued up
  through WWII
• Huge numbers of Jews emigrated
• Germans invited to settle in Russian empire under
  Catherine the Great, persecuted in WWII, many
  emigrated in 1980s

5
The East Slavs

• 989 Kievan Rus and conversion to Christianity
• 1240 State collapsed, center of literacy moved to
  Novgorod, then capital moved to Moscow under Ivan
  the Terrible
• Rulers became protectors of Orthodoxy after fall
  of Constantinople in 1453

6
The East Slavs, contd.

• Old Church Slavonic, with South Slavic features,
  functioned as the literary language until 18th c
• Alphabetic divide between Orthodoxy with OCS and
  Cyrillic alphabet vs. Latin church alphabet

7
Expansion of Russian Empire

• 17th-19th c Romanovs expand to East, incorporate
  Siberia
• 18th c Southward expansion to Black Sea
• 1703 Founding of St. Petersburg by Peter the
  Great (multinational center)
• 1721 Russian conquest of Baltic region
  (previously in German hands)
• 1762-95 Acquisition of Ukraine, Belarus, part of
  Poland
• 1861 Emancipation of serfs

8
Russification policies

• From Catherine the Great through the Romanovs,
  all Russian rulers enforced Russification
  (Russian in schools, administration, etc.) in all
  acquired territories
• Russian becomes lingua franca of the area

9
Russification policies, contd.

• Soviet Period Originally there was some
  commitment to self-determination for the various
  nationalities, but then Stalin reintroduced the
  idea that language was one of the constitutive
  elements of nationhood
• Russian chauvinism prevailed and most languages
  suffered serious decline in Soviet period
• 1991 Disintegration of Soviet Union

10
Post-Soviet states their languages

• Belarus, Ukraine, Russia are all E Slavic, use
  Cyrillic and show OCS influence
• 1755 Lomonosov codified modern Russian
• 19th c Ukrainian codified
• 1906-14 Belarusian codified
• Some ideologues (Solzhenistyn, Rutskoi) have
  suggested unification of the three E Slavic
  countries

11
Post-Soviet states their languages, contd.

• Russian Federation is extremely linguistically
  diverse
• Ukraine 73 Ukrainian, 22 Russian
• Belarus 78 Belarusian, 13 Russian, but Belarus
  was intensively Russified and most Belarusians
  are more comfortable with Russian than with
  Belarusian

12
Post-Soviet states their languages, contd.

• Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
• Estonian is close to Finnish, most are Lutheran
• Lithuanian Latvian are close to each other, but
  Lithuania is Catholic, Latvia is Protestant

13
Post-Soviet states their languages, contd.

• Estonia 64 Estonian, 30 Russian fluency in
  Estonian required for citizenship
• Latvia 54 Latvian, 33 Russian the number of
  Russians who can apply for citizenship is limited
  numerically every year
• Lithuania 81 Lithuanian less strict citizenship
  policies

14
Post-Soviet states their languages, contd.

• Moldova
• Romance language related to Romanian
• Turkish Yiddish minorities

15
Post-Soviet states their languages, contd.

• 1859 Romania discarded Cyrillic switched to
  Latin, but Moldova kept Cyrillic
• Soviet Union encouraged distinction between
  Moldovan Romanian
• 65 Moldovan, 13 Russian, 14 Ukrainian, 4
  Gagauz (Turkish), 2 Bulgarian
• 1988-9 switch to Latin alphabet recognition of
  identity with Romanian

16
Post-Soviet states their languages, contd.

• Ukraine -- particularly complex, many dialects
  are very close to Russian, many people are
  bilingual, close ties also to Polish
• Ukraine was breadbasket of Russia/Soviet Union
• Ukrainian often identified as Little Russian or
  South Russian
• Multiple loyalties are the norm, Ukrainian
  nationalism is a minority faith

17
Concluding notes

• Economies have declined in post-Soviet era,
  creating potential for trouble that could be
  exploited by nationalists. With some terrible
  exceptions (Chechnya), much violence has been
  avoided