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Language Situation and Language Policy in Russia (Revising Categories and Practices)

Tishkov V.A.,

Research Director, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences; Research Centre for Social Anthropology, Russian State University for the Humanities, valerytishkov@mail.ru

elibrary_id: 72092 |

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2019.03.08

Rubric: Laboratory: Language Resource of Modern Policy

For citation:

Tishkov V.A. Language Situation and Language Policy in Russia (Revising Categories and Practices). – Polis. Political Studies. 2019. No. 3. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2019.03.08

The study was carried out at the expense of a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 14-18-03090)

Abstract

This article revises existing Russian practices of categorization and procedures in the evaluation of the language situations and the exercising of the language policy. In the center of its analysis are interactions of language and ethnicity, and language and state politics, especially census taking procedures. The revision of such categories as “native language”, “mother tongue”, or “national language” are suggested in favor of more sensitive, situational, multiple approaches which reflect factors of rational choice, “language market”, structural prescriptions, and language repertoire in culturally-complex societies, as well as of historical dynamic language processes. The author argues against rigid connections between language and ethnicity and raises the issue of the rights of linguistic communities, and the support of languages as independent values in a culture of human communications. In the realm of language policy, the article considers language issues in contemporary nation building as well as a balance between official (national) language(s) and ethnic (minority) languages in the public life of countries such as the Russian Federation 

Keywords

Russia, native language, mother tongue, official (national) language, language situation, language policy, ethnicity, population census, nation-building, language rights, school education.

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