anguages of the peoples of the Russian Federation: legal aspect of language policy in a multinational country
Vida Yu. Mikhalchenko1, Elena A. Kondrashkina2, Svetlana V. Kirilenko3*
1Prof. Dr., Head Scientific Researcher, Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, RUSSIA, vida-mi@mail.ru
2Senior Scientific Researcher, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, RUSSIA, e.kondrashkina@inbox.ru
3Scientific Researcher, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences; Assoc. Prof., RUSSIA, svetlanavk@inbox.ru
*Corresponding Author
Abstract
The article gives an overview of the history of language legislation development in the Russian Federation, i.e. it considers the formation and implementation of regulations for the use of a language in different spheres of communication, which in the long run contributed to maintaining language well-being, safeguarded peaceful co-existence of languages, helped to avoid providing basis for language conflicts. Language legislation, as a rule, is represented in separate articles of the Constitution, state programs and laws on languages, being a means of the conscious influence of society on languages. Generally speaking, language legislation is to be designed to correspond to the characteristics of a language situation in which it will be applied. Besides, it is to cater to the social needs of a whole society (language unity) and individual language communities (language diversity) to the maximum extent.
The adoption of laws that take into account all ethno-cultural factors mentioned above is only one stage on the way towards harmonizing national-language relations. First and foremost, it is crucial to organize proper application and enforcement of those laws. On the one hand, the most important issue is the choice of the correct approach to the language problems in multinational countries, since it is vulnerable grounds where the problems of language unity of a state can arise. On the other hand, language needs of individual linguistic communities are to be taken into account.
By regulating the scope and functional load of the languages-components of the corresponding socio-communicative system, language legislation creates conditions for language integration in society, protects language rights of individuals. On the contrary, ill-considered language legislation can lead to social tensions and language disintegration.
This article analyzes the laws on languages in the republics of the Russian Federation. A closer attention is paid to the laws on languages in the five Finno-Ugric republics of the Russian Federation, namely Karelia, Komi, Mari El, Mordovia and Udmurtia. In two of them (Mari El and Mordovia), not two languages, as in most other republics, but three ones are declared official languages.
The reasons for so-called ‘language nihilism’ in Mari El, Mordovia and Udmurtia are considered in article. The explanation of the reason for the rejection of the law on languages in the Republic of Karelia will be given in detail. Furthermore, the authors examine the language assimilation of the Karelian people, which sparked off the decrease in the number of speakers and examine the causes of it.
At the same time, the authors consider critics towards a number of articles of the laws on languages which made these laws optional for implementation. Moreover, as it is reflected in the article, the role of national languages, declared as state languages, is underestimated in some important areas of communication.
The paper concludes with a brief overview of the many years of existence of language laws and their implementation into practice.
Keywords: laws on languages, language policy, articles on laws on languages, language conflicts, ethnic minorities, demographic factors, Russian language, state language
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