Synopses & Reviews
The former Soviet Union provides one of the most interesting examples of a nation state's deliberate use of language policy to further its political goals. Language Policy in the Soviet Union provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the development of this policy at both national and local levels. It is meant for linguists, policy makers, and specialists on the USSR and Eastern Europe. The book is organized in such a way that it can be read in its entirety or selectively, with an introduction to the USSR and its ethnolinguistic makeup, followed by a chronology of Soviet language policy and its general development. Subsequent chapters are organized regionally, with surveys of the geographic and ethnolinguistic regions of the Soviet Union and a discussion of language policy and its impact in each of them.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-226) and indexes.
Table of Contents
Preface.
1: Introduction. 1. Organization of the Soviet State. 2. The Linguistic Map of the Soviet Union. 3. Ethnic Composition of the USSR. 4. Analyzing the Soviet Union.
2: An Overview of Soviet Language Policy. 1. The Early Soviet Years. 2. Constructing Nationalities. 3. The Nationalities Question. 4. The Literacy Campaign. 5. Language Policy under Stalin, 1930 1950. 6. Language Policy after World War II. 7. Brezhnev and the 1970s. 8. Language and Education. 9. Perestroika.
3: The Slavic Republics and Moldova. 1. The Russian Soviet Federate Socialist Republic. 2. The Ukrainian SSR. 3. The Belorussian SSR. 4. The Moldavian SSR. 5. The Backlash of Reform.
4: The Baltic States. 1. Introduction to the Baltics. 2. The Estonian SSR. 3. The Latvian SSR. 4. The Lithuanian SSR. 5. Reform and Revolt.
5: The Caucasus. 1. Overview of the Caucasus. 2. The Georgian SSR. 3. The Armenian SSR. 4. The Azerbaijan SSR. 5. The North Caucasus. 6. Summary View of the Caucasus. 6: Central Asia. 1. Overview of Central Asia. 2. Turkestan. 3. The Uzbek SSR. 4. Central Asia Prior to World War II. 5. Central Asia after Stalin. 6. Language Reform.
7: The North. 1. Languages of the North. 2. The Literacy Campaign in the North. 3. Small Languages of the North. 4. Language Development. 5. The "Large" Minorities. 6. Language Endangerment.
8: The Impact of Soviet Language Policy. 1. Language Shift. 2. Shifting Demographics. 3. The New "Nativization" Movements. 4. Conclusion. Appendix: Works Consulted. Language Index. Subject Index. Map of the Soviet Union, 1980.