Language Management in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and Post-Soviet Countries
This chapter examines four aspects of language management—nativization, linguistic assimilation, de-russification, and bilingual education—in the multilingual territory first occupied by the Russian Empire, then by the USSR, and then by the successor states. The rationale for this diachronic approach is twofold. The three settings are interrelated: post-Soviet developments cannot be fully understood outside their historic context, just as the full impact of Soviet language policies can only be established through the post-Soviet lens. In addition, sociolinguists generally lack familiarity with Russian and Soviet language management. The discussion focuses on the territories occupied by the fourteen successor states and on their titular languages; the processes taking place in the Russian Federation are sufficiently different to merit a separate review.