Multilingualism in the Baltic States

Societal Discourses and Contact Phenomena

Sanita Lazdiņa, Heiko F. Marten, Heiko F. Marten, Sanita Lazdiņa

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781137569134
• eBook ISBN:
  9781137569141
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This edited collection provides an overview of linguistic diversity, societal discourses and interaction between majorities and minorities in the Baltic States. It presents a wide range of methods and research paradigms including folk linguistics, discourse analysis, narrative analyses, code alternation, ethnographic observations, language learning motivation, languages in education and language acquisition. Grouped thematically, its chapters examine regional varieties and minority languages (Latgalian, Võro, urban dialects in Lithuania, Polish in Lithuania); the integration of the Russian language and its speakers; and the role of international languages like English in Baltic societies. The editors' introductory and concluding chapters provide a comparative perspective that situates these issues within the particular history of the region and broader debates on language and nationalism at a time of both increased globalization and ethno-regionalism. This book will appeal in particular to students and scholars of multilingualism, sociolinguistics, language discourses and language policy, and provide a valuable resource for researchers focusing on Baltic States, Northern Europe and the post-Soviet world in the related fields of history, political science, sociology and anthropology. 

Part IIntroduction

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2019

Sanita Lazdiņa and Heiko F. Marten (eds.)Multilingualism in the Baltic Stateshttps://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56914-1_2

Begin Abstract

Language Policy, External Political Pressure and Internal Linguistic Change: The Particularity of the Baltic Case

Uldis Ozolins¹

(1)

University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Uldis Ozolins

Email: [email protected]

Keywords

Language policyBaltic statesRussian languageAsymmetrical bilingualismMultilingualismLanguage practices

End Abstract

1 Introduction

A discussion of language policy in the Baltic states at the present moment inevitably addresses the politics of language and macropolitical forces little related to language. The aggression of Russia towards Ukraine , and threats of the same to the Baltic states , must now be taken into account in understanding language issues (Stuttaford 2015b). At the same time, language policy in the Baltics has been an issue that has been salient ever since these countries regained independence de facto in 1991, and of longer historical interest as well. While perhaps not totally unique in their pursuit of defending their national languages the Baltic states have had to negotiate external pressures of a perhaps unusual intensity, with interest in and critique of their policies coming from both East and West, as well as internally. This chapter looks beyond the current menacing context of tension with Russia , traces some specific historical factors that have determined language policy, looks at the complex and sometimes paradoxical interplay between external and internal pressures determining language policy and looks briefly at what is an already changing language situation on the ground, examined in greater detail in other contributions to this book.

2 Perspectives on Baltic Language Policy in the Shadow of Ukraine

While recent events in Ukraine are distressing and Russia ’s future intentions difficult to predict, these events may help to see more broadly the influence of outside politics on language policy in the Baltic states . It is noteworthy that the degree of attention paid to external political forces on language policy as opposed to focus on purely internal factors has tended to sharply differentiate the literature on the Baltics over the past two decades. For many authors from the Baltic states themselves the starting point is the need to change Soviet-period language policy and reassert the status of the national languages, under constant pressure not so much from local Russian communities as from Moscow and its various apparati, as well as pressures exerted by the EU and other international agencies (Budryte 2005; Druviete 1997; Druviete and Ozolins 2016; Hogan-Brun et al. 2007; Racevskis 2002; Rannut 1994, 2009).

By contrast, for most writers from the West the focus is squarely on language rights of local minorities, largely seen as Russian, though with Polish also being a focus in Lithuania . The concerns here have been twofold—first, the reinstatement of the Baltic languages as the sole state language , and its consequence for speakers of Russian (and Polish ), as the previous widespread Soviet role of Russian was restricted. This has particularly been phrased in the discourse of human rights , and universal values of language choice and freedom (de Varennes 1995/1996; Schmid 2008; Pavlenko 2011). Crucially, this discourse has also been linked to another external pressure: conditionality requirements for the Baltic states to gain membership of desired institutions, particularly the Council of Europe , the EU and NATO .

Second, while all three Baltic states reintroduced their titular language as the sole official (or ‘State’) language, Estonia and Latvia as well introduced restrictive citizenship laws, which determined that only those who were citizens of those countries in 1940 at the time of the Soviet takeover, and their descendants, gained automatic citizenship . A process of naturalization allows the large numbers of Soviet-period settlers to gain citizenship upon passing a language and history/constitution test; this restriction has also been heavily criticized (Aasland 2002; Agarin 2010) but also defended (Chinn and Truex 1996; Burgess 1999; Jubulis 2001; Johns 2003).

As early as 1992, American historian Fukuyama in a dramatic article ‘Trapped in the Baltics’ drew attention to the plight of large numbers of former Soviet citizens being beached in new countries as borders receded and language policy , like every other policy, changed around them, interestingly echoing views that came and continued to come from pro-Soviet/Russian authors (Alksnis 1991; Ramishvili 1998), though these views have also been strongly challenged (Bildt 1994; Laitin 1998).

For much of this literature, through the 1990s and into the new century, Baltic language policy is inherently problematic. Some have seen it as simply a reversal of the asymmetric bilingualism of the Soviet period—thus the scenario of Baltic titulars needing to know Russian to be able to function and have any career in the Soviet Union was now reversed, as in Knowles’ (1999) article ‘Ethno-linguistic relations in contemporary Latvia : mirror image of the previous dispensation?’ Some saw the Baltic situation as simple discrimination by definition, viewing any language requirement as ethnically biased (Dobson 2001).

The concern over Baltic language policy intensified with the attempts by the Baltic states to gain membership of the EU , and there were conditionality requirements by European bodies seeking to soften Baltic language and citizenship policies in Estonia and Latvia (Ozolins 2003; Budryte 2005). Despite these, the fundamental positions taken by these countries were maintained: only one state language , requirements for language attestation testing for particular professions for those not having a titular language education and steady increase in teaching of the titular languages in the still extensive Russian medium-school systems. At the social level, Russian has continued to be used widely (Schulze 2009).

While Baltic authors argued for the necessity of their language policy and pointed out the still extant political pressure that was put on the Baltic states by Russia , becoming more intense in the Putin era, the move to inclusion of the Baltic states in European structures paid little attention to Russian pressure, seeking to have norms of human rights and social inclusion reflected in Baltic policy (Adrey 2005, though see the discussion of Schulze 2009 below). However, one European body was concerned with external threats—the Organization for Security and Co...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• Multilingualism, Language Contact and Majority–Minority Relations in Contemporary Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
• Part I. Introduction
• Part II. Regional Varieties and Minority Languages
• Part III. The Integration of the Russian Language and Its Speakers into Baltic Societies
• Part IV. English and Other Languages in the Globalized Societies of the Baltic States
• Part V. Conclusion
• Back Matter