Minority languages of Russia

Sun Mar 17 04:39:13 UTC 2002

Dear SEELANGers:

Thanks very much to those of you who responded to my message concerning
ways to
contact speakers of minority languages of the Russian Federation for my course
on "Language Planning and Language Conflict in Post-Soviet Eurasia." In the
meantime, I came across the following website which has provided me with some
additional leads:

"Minority Languages of Russia on the Net"
(http://www.peoples.org.ru/eng_index.html).

This website includes links to a variety of sites with information about the
titular and non-titular ethnolinguistic groups of the Russian Federation, as
well as links to republic governmental organizations, NGOs, language
resources,
information on language legislation and its implementation, etc. There are
even
links to chat groups, for example, for Tatars and the Finno-Ugric minorities!
        Three fairly recent reference works that have also proven useful
for my
course are: _Gosudarstvennye yazyki v Rossijskoj Federacii_ (Moscow: Academia,
1995), published by the Institut yazykov narodov Rossii, R.A. Ageeva
_Kakogo my
rodu-plemeni? Narody Rossii: imena i sud''by_ (Moscow: Academia, 2000), and
_Chto nuzhno znat' o narodax Rossii. Spravochnik dlja gosudarstvennyx
sluzhashchix_ (Moscow: Skriptorij/Russkii mir, 1999). The latter book includes
a foreword by V. Mikhailov, Minister for Regional and Nationalities Affairs of
the Russian Federation, who writes:

"Segodnja uzhe nikogo ne nuzhno ubezhdat', chto bez predstavlenija o narodax,
naseljajushchix Rossijskuju Federaciju, prosto nevozmozhno osoznavat' sebja ee
polnocennym grazhdaninom. V pervuju ochered' eto otnositsja k gosudarstvennym
sluzhashchim vsex urovnej i vetvej vlasti, ezhednevno stalkivajushchimsja s
temi ili inymi storonami otechestvennogo mnogoplanovogo polietnicheskogo
bytija. I zdes' etnologicheskoe znanie stanovitsja neot"emlemym slagaemym
professional'noj prigodnosti."

If only it were so! I get the impression that in Putin's government such
sentiments are not particularly popular, if the recent abolition of  the
Ministry for Regional and Nationalities Affairs is any indication.
        As the language policy situation in Russia is now changing rather
rapidly (see newsbriefs from Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe appended
below), I
would also be grateful to SEELANGS subscribers for references to any recent
articles in the Russian or foreign press concerning language planning and
policy with respect to the Russian language (such as the proposed orthographic
reform and the activities of the Council on the Russian Language) or other
official languages of the Russian Federation.

Many thanks!

Curt Woolhiser
University of Texas at Austin
===================================================
(From RFE/RL Newsline)

June 11, 2001

PUNISHMENTS PROPOSED FOR MISUSING RUSSIAN. Deputy (Unity) Kaadyr-
Ool Bilcheldei, the deputy head of the Duma Nationalities Affairs
Committee, has introduced legislation calling for elevating Russian to
the status of the state language and imposing criminal and other
penalties on those who misuse it, Interfax reported on 26 June. VY

September 25, 2001

ANOTHER DUMA DEPUTY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST LATIN SCRIPT FOR TATAR
LANGUAGE. Bashkortostan Academy of Sciences President and State Duma
deputy (Russian Regions) Robert Nigmatulin told reporters on 20
September that the introduction of Latin script for the Tatar written
language will result in the break of the Tatar language from the Bashkir
language as well as from Russian language and culture, RFE/RL's Kazan
bureau reported on 24 September (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 September
2001). Nigmatulin said that this is not "a private issue of Tatarstan."
In an earlier interview with Russian Television (RTR) on 18 September,
he called for resolving the question at the federal level. During that
same RTR program, Marat Murtazin, rector of the Islamic University, also
condemned the Latinization program, saying that it should be "forbidden
to experiment on a people, abandoning one plan for another." JAC

...AS TATARSTAN OFFICIALS STAND FAST. "Our children will lose the
opportunity to read, to read literature that was written in the Tatar
language during the last 70 years," he continued. According to RFE/RL's
Kazan bureau, Nigmatulin and Murtazin admitted at a Moscow press
conference that they themselves do not read any books or newspapers in
Tatar -- even in Cyrillic script. Meanwhile, local Tatarstan officials
were defiant. Farid Mukhametshin, chairman of Tatarstan's Legislative
Assembly, said on 21 September that federal authorities cannot legally
block the switch to Latin script. And Mansur Khasanov, president of the
Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, said that if the State Duma votes to
prohibit the switch, this would be a "return to the past" and would
represent the annihilation of Tatarstan's sovereignty. JAC

October 18, 2001

LINGUIST SAYS NON-RUSSIAN LANGUAGES THREATEN STATE. Irina
Khaleeva, the head of the Moscow Language University and the Russian
rapporteur on language problems at the Council of Europe, said in an
interview published in "Rossiiskaya gazeta" on 16 October that the
increased status of non-Russian languages within the Russian Federation
in general, and especially of the Tatar and Bashkir languages in their
titular republics, threaten to destroy Russia just as nationalism
earlier destroyed the Soviet Union. She said that Russia must protect
itself by making the Russian language the state language of the country.
VY

November 2001

DUMA DEPUTY SAYS MOSCOW CONDUCTING CAMPAIGN OF PRESSURE
AGAINST TATARSTAN. In an interview with RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir
Service on 27 November, State Duma deputy Fandas Safiullin (Russian
Regions) said Moscow is guilty of using pressure and legal attacks
during the process of seeking the harmonization of the constitutions of
Tatarstan and Russia. According to Safiullin, Moscow is trying "to drive
all of the republics into one barn," and thus form a unitary state.
Safiullin added that a recent article in the newspaper "Zavtra"
represented a direct call for an anti-Tatar pogrom addressed to Russians
living outside of Tatarstan, many of whom he claims are ignorant about
Tatarstan and Tatars. The daily claimed that Tatars have destroyed a
monument to Ivan the Terrible in Kazan, and, according to Safiullin,
most Russian citizens are unaware that such a monument existed in Kazan.
Meanwhile, several of Safiullin's colleagues in the State Duma have
filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court challenging the provision
of the Tatar Constitution that requires the president to speak both
Russian and Tatar. JAC

Feb. 27, 2002

DEPUTIES MULL CYRILLIC-ONLY BILL. The State Duma's Committee on
Nationalities Affairs voted on 22 February to recommend the approval
of a draft bill obliging all peoples living in Russia to use the
Cyrillic script, RFE/RL's Kazan bureau reported on 26 February. If
enacted, the draft bill would pose a setback to Tatarstan's five-year
effort to reintroduce a Latin-based script. Committee members
rejected a draft bill giving different ethic groups the right to
choose scripts that was offered by Duma deputy (Russian Regions) and
former Tatarstan Public Center Chairman Fandas Safiullin. JAC

March 4, 2002

MARII CULTURE UNDER PRESSURE. Representatives of the Marii political
opposition recently took part in a press conference organized in
Kazan by the Tatar Public Center, Liberal Russia in Tatarstan, and
the public political movement Idel-Ural, RFE/RL's Kazan bureau
reported on 1 March, citing "Vostochnyi ekspress." Viktor Nikolaev,
the chairman of the All-Marii Council and the former Marii El culture
minister, said Marii opposition movements are preparing to protest
against pressure being exerted on the Marii language and culture in
the republic. They are appealing to Tatars and related Finno-Ugric
peoples for support. Nikolaev said that since Leonid Markelov, who
was supported by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, took over as
president of the republic, a government body in charge of ethnic
issues has been abolished, and a major discussion on the necessity of
teaching the Marii language has been initiated. In addition, the
Education Ministry's National Education Department has also been
closed, while its employees have been accused of "spreading the Marii
language," he said. The opposition newspaper "Kudo-Kodu" is printed
outside the republic with the support of George Soros's Open Society
Fund. JAC

March 15, 2002

TATAR GROUPS FEAR LOSS OF TATAR-LANGUAGE RADIO STATION... The Chally
branch of the moderate nationalist group Tatar Public Center (TPC)
appealed to Russian Media Minister Lesin on 13 March, asking him to
cancel bidding for the 105.3 FM frequency in Chally that was formerly
occupied by the Tatar-language Dulkin station, RFE/RL's Kazan bureau
reported. The TPC warns that cutting off Dulkin's broadcasts will
undermine Russian authority among the Tatar, Bashkir, Chuvash, and
Mari peoples. The TPC asserts that Dulkin presented all the necessary
documents for resuming its broadcasting; however, the ministry
decided to organize a tender for the station's broadcasting rights to
be held on 27 March. Russian-language Radio Shanson and Radio Retro,
along with Tatarstan's TAIF group, have applied to take over the
frequency. Dulkin's general manager Ravil Rustyamov told Tatar-Inform
that he is afraid that the other stations such as Radio Shanson and
Retor have much more money and better political connections than
Dulkin. He added that the station has received tens of thousands of
letters from Tatars all over the world and also broadcasts in Tatar
on the Internet 24 hours a day. JAC

...AS MORE PROTESTS OF CENSUS DIVISION VOICED. The Tatar and Bashkir
public movement Tugan Tel held a forum on 10 March in Ulyanovsk
Oblast at which they condemned the federal center's ethnic policies,
Tatar-Inform reported on 14 March. It adopted an appeal criticizing
the Russian government's decision to divide the Tatar people into
various categories, including Kryashens (or baptized Tatars), when
the national census is conducted (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 November
and 14 December 2001). It said that if the same logic were applied to
the Russian people then they should be divided into Old Believers,
Molokans, Kulugurs, Kubans, and Don Cossacks, etc. JAC

========================================
Curt F. Woolhiser
Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Calhoun 415
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78713-7217 USA
Tel. (512) 232-9133, (512) 471-3607
Fax: (512) 471-6710
Email: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu
Slavic Department Home Page:
http://www.dla.utexas.edu/depts/slavic/
========================================

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