Estonia , Latvia and the European Commission : Changes in Language Regulation in 1999-2001 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Language policies and practices across the Baltic: processes, challenges, prospects.
European Journal of Applied Linguistics (EuJAL) 1/1, 2013, 55 – 82.
We examine actions taken in the three Baltic states to (re-)establish their national languages in de facto multilingual surroundings. The implementation processes and initial impact of language ideology and language regulation on the language practices and socio-political participation of Soviet-period immigrants and their descendants living in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are described. In presenting a comparative cross-Baltic overview of language practices we discuss the national differences in connection with citizenship and political participation, population distribution and labour market surroundings. Our empirical data are drawn from sociological surveys, population statistics and labour market segregation analyses. We focus on the interaction between regulations, language practices and social structural surroundings asking: How has the national language establishment shaped labour market practices, citizenship and education expectations? And vice versa: What could be the effect of the social surroundings on the formation of the language practices? We conclude that despite their different structural provisions, Estonia and Lithuania face somewhat similar future challenges in terms of creating a culturally more integrated education system.The minority agents when confronted with existing policy requirements have fewer possibilities to produce their own (alternative) solutions since ethnicity or language-driven social marginalization is perceived more as a problem here. In Latvia, the minority representatives seem to have sufficient resources in the private sphere to slow down existing state level language requirements, which enables them to create suitable surroundings for the ongoing maintenance of the Latvian-Russian multilingual environment.
Beyond Linguistic Policy: The Soviet Union Versus Estonia
Rolig Papir, 1991
Discussion of the role of non-Russian languages in the Soviet Union (USSR) focuses on the history of ethnic group languages and language policy in Estonia since the collapse of totalitarianism. A historical overview of Soviet Union language policy is offered, with attention given to the ideological goals influencing policy, and their realization and results. Three periods are discerned: the first characterized by urgent and violent measures used to implement Communist ideals, including elimination of whole ethnic groups; the second emphasizing homogenization and elimination of ethnic markers; and the third occurring with the introduction of "perestrojka," when ethnic and linguistic self-determination continued to be denied despite official change in policy. Three simultaneous processes are nuted: increasing economic malfunction; the attempt by indigenous nations to establish political sovereignty or gain additional rights; and the attempt of indigenous nations to protect their languages and cultures. The three processes are seen as generating a crisis in the Soviet Union. Estonian linguistic policy adopted soon after the Soviet occupation in 1940 until the present is analyzed, including language attitudes among non-Estonians and language policy in education. Democracy and self-determination are seen as necessary for the solution of linguistic problems. A 20-item bibliography is included. (MSE)
Latvia has been accepted in the European "club" the 1 st May 2004. To fulfill the European criteria, Latvia has been forced to change some of its provisions about citizenship. The linguistic legislation, which is another pillar of the juridical system, and which tends to create a monolingual society (at least in the public sphere) has been also declared totally legitimate. The (re)building of one Nation State must foresee a system where the founding nation is prevailing on the others, nevertheless minorities must be protected and respected. The author of this essay justifies the linguistic measures, enshrined in the State Language Law of 1999 and in the Reform of Education of 1998 and criticizes the citizenship provisions (though they have been bettered) which exclude many legal residents from the political decisionmaking. Summary 1. Introduction 2. The normative framework 3. The main contents of the State Language Law of 1999 4. Education 5. The citizenship legislation 6. The Latvian and European jurisprudence related to the Latvian linguistic policy 7. Conclusions
Cultural and Linguistic Minorities in the Russian Federation and the European Union
This is the first comprehensive volume to compare the sociolinguistic situations of minorities in Russia and in Western Europe. As such, it provides insight into language policies, the ethnolinguistic vitality and the struggle for reversal of language shift, language revitalization and empowerment of minorities in Russia and the European Union. The volume shows that, even though largely unknown to a broader English-reading audience, the linguistic composition of Russia is by no means less diverse than multilingualism in the EU. It is therefore a valuable introduction into the historical backgrounds and current linguistic, social and legal affairs with regard to Russia’s manifold ethnic and linguistic minorities, mirrored on the discussion of recent issues in a number of well-known Western European minority situations. Content Level » Research Keywords » Aboriginal culture in Northern Russia - Basque language - Finnic minorities of Ingria - Frisian - Global biodiversity in the early 21st century - Global extinction of languages - Languages in the Russian Federation - Latgalian - Linguistic Rights of National Groups - Minority languages and cultures - Scottish Gaelic - Sociolinguistic ethnolinguistic variation - Sorbian languages in Germany - Sámi languages in Finland - languages in Mari El - languages in Udmurtia - linguistic and cultural diversity - minority language speakers - revitalization of endangered languages - saami languages
This project concentrates on language policy regarding ethnic minorities in contemporary Latvia and Ukraine. Language policy plays an extremely important role in the system of Eastern European nationalisms because it is supposed to be one of the markers for defining the boundaries of a nation-state and reproducing cultural identity of the political community. After the Soviet Union disintegration in 1991 Latvia and Ukraine enhanced a unique historic chance to conduct the politics of nationalizing states in terms of Rogers Brubaker’s theory of nationalism that caused the outrage of the Russian-speaking population, other ethnic minorities and cultural groups and led to continuous public debates in mass media. This paper is a multi-sided research project that includes the historical context of the formation of the Latvian and Ukrainian nations, analysis of contemporary language policy in two European countries and discourse analysis of public debates in Russian-language newspapers in Latvia and Ukraine. The decision to choose Russian-language newspapers (daily or the ones issued several times a week) is based on the premise that these newspapers articulate the interests of minority groups and mediate between the majority of the population and minority groups, attracting attention of the general public to their problems. The social constructivist paradigm based on P. L. Berger and T. Luckmann’s «The Social Construction of Reality» is chosen as a broader theoretical framework. The constructivist approach to nations elaborated by B. Anderson, E. Gellner and R. Brubaker is also applied to the investigation of nation-building processes and their influence on language policy regarding ethnic minorities. While the issue of language policy is often aggravated in mass media and considered to be an urgent social problem, the theory of social problems construction developed by J. Kitsuse and M. Spector and the concept of language (vernacular) games elaborated by J. Kitsuse and P. Ibarra make a significant contribution to the empirical analysis of representation strategies of language policy in Russian-language newspapers in Ukraine and Latvia. The programme called ‘’sociology of knowledge approach’’ (SKAD) elaborated by German sociologist Reiner Keller is chosen as most relevant methodological tool that enables the researcher to draw attention to conflicting discourses that exist in the public space and social inequalities reflected in different narratives of language policy in Russian-language press in two countries. The main outcome of the research is that the issue of language policy regarding ethnic minorities is constructed as a full-scale social problem by the means of different discursive strategies including rhetorical idioms, metaphors, and the mixture of claim-making styles that were distinguished in the course of analysis. It means that contemporary nationalization movements in Latvia and Ukraine are deeply intertwined with the ongoing, flexible and debatable process of constructing political boundaries based on cultural characteristics such as language, common history and education. It is worth noting that despite the general Soviet context of national and language policy in both countries, there is a remarkable difference in the strategies of representation of language policy in Ukrainian and Latvian public space. Key words: language policies, ethnic minorities, discourse of Russian-language press, social problems, nationalism.
Russian and English : Minority languages in Europe ? *
2021
The term ‘minority’ for an ethno-linguistically defined group residing in an ethno-linguistically ‘foreign’ nation-state was firmly introduced to the lexicon of international relations and international law after the Great War. In these spheres the term was limited to central Europe, where the Wilsonian principle of ethno-linguistically defined national self-determination was actually applied. In turn, this term yielded the legally enshrined collocation ‘minority language.’ After the end of communism, both terms have become the basis for formulating and implementing minority rights in the Council of Europe’s space, from Greenland and Lisbon to Vladivostok and Kamchatka. However, using the terms ‘minority’ and ‘minority language’ for characterizing Russophone groups living outside Russia seems to make little sense. Otherwise, we should also talk about English as a minority language and of Anglophone communities strewn across today’s Europe as minorities. But we do not, because Englis...