Fwd: Russian State Duma outlaws Roman alphabet

[curt fredric woolhiser]

Thanks to Wayles Brown for the biographical information on the
sponsor of the bill, Kaadyr-ool Bicheldei. He seems to be making
quite a name for himself in the area of language policy in the
Russian Federation -- two years ago he sponsored legislation that
would impose fines on the Russian-language media for using "foreign
words" (see item from RFE/RL below):

November 2000 (RFE/RL Newsline)

GOVERNMENT CONTEMPLATES FINES ON MEDIA'S USE OF FOREIGN
LANGUAGE. Deputy Chairman of the State Duma's Committee on
Federation Affairs (Unity) Kadyr Bicheldei announced on 14
November that members of the lower legislative house are
working on legislation that would impose fines on media
organizations that use foreign words, ITAR-TASS reported on
14 November. Bicheldei was participating in a roundtable on
the Russian language in media broadcasts at the Media
Ministry. According to ITAR-TASS, the Media Ministry has
provided financial support for a website specializing in the
Russian language. (The agency did not provide the address.)
Participants in the roundtable sent a telegram to Prime
Minister Kasyanov expressing their support for the federal
program for the Russian language and their willingness to
make sure it is implemented. JAC

As far as I know, however, this particular piece of legislation has
not yet been presented to the Duma.


>>>From: curt fredric woolhiser <cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu>
>>>Subject: Russian State Duma outlaws Roman alphabet
>>>Cc:
>>>Bcc:
>>>X-Attachments:
>>>
>>>
>>>Duma outlaws Roman alphabet
>>>
>>>(from gazeta.ru)
>>>
>>>The State Duma has prohibited Tatars from using the Roman alphabet.
>>>On Friday deputies passed a bill banning the use of any alphabet
>>>other than Cyrillic in state languages throughout the Russian
>>>Federation.
>>>     ...
>>>     The debate, according to Kaadyr-ool Bicheldei, one of the
>>>authors of the draft and chairman of the subcommittee for language
>>>policy, ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples, proceeded ''quite
>>>smoothly''.
>...
>
>It's interesting that Mr. Bicheldei is from our profession. The web site
>http://www.cityline.ru:8084/politika/bio/bicheld.html
>describes him as:
>
>Chlen Soveta Federacii (s 23 yanvarya 1996)
>
>Dolzhnost' v sub'ekte Federacii:
>Predsedatel' Verhovnogo Hurala (Parlamenta) Respubliki Tyva
>Tel 8(394-22)3-73-25, faks 3-33-71
>Dolzhnost' v Sovete Federacii:
>Chlen Komiteta po mezhdunarodnym delam. Zamestitel' predsedatelya
>Komissii po Reglamentu i parlamentskim proceduram. K.3-30,
>tel.292-75-27, 926-66-79
>
>Data rozhdeniya. Rukovodyashie dolzhnosti v regione v
>hronologicheskom poryadke. Partiinaya (politicheskaya)
>prinadlezhnost':
>2 yanvarya 1950, tuvinec, obrazovanie vysshee, kandidat
>filologicheskih nauk. Predsedatel' Verhovnogo Soveta so 2 oktyabrya
>1991; Predsedatel' Verhovnogo Hurala (Parlamenta) s 6 yanvarya 1994.
>Rabota narodnym deputatom RF (1990-1993):
>Narodnyi deputat RF (nac.-terr.okr.132:Tuva) s 4 marta 1990.
>Frakciya: Suverenitet i Ravenstvo. Na moment izbraniya - starshii
>nauchnyi sotrudnik Tuvinskogo NII yazyka, istorii i literatury.
>
>and he is the author of:
>Let's Learn Tuvan! by Kaadyr-ool A. Bicheldei (now Parliament
>Chairman). Twenty chapters
>of instruction with a CD....
>available from the site
>http://www.scs-intl.com/trader/ (The Tuva Trader).
>


========================================
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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