The state language of Russia

[John Dunn]

Article 68 of the 1993 Constitution defines Russian as the state language of the Russian Federation.  I haven't looked through all
the different constitutions of the RSFSR, but since neither the first (1918) nor the last (1978) mentions a state language, this may be the first occasion on which the state language of Russia has been defined in those terms.

I realise that this is not the answer that my namesake is looking for, but it illustrates the point that the question is difficult to answer in the terms in which it is asked.  I would, though, venture to suggest that at no time has Church Slavonic fulfilled functions comparable to those of a state language in any of the political entities that have occupied the space commonly known as Russia.  The oldest Russian law code, Russkaya pravda (the oldest surviving manuscript dates from 1282) is written in Russian, even if some fifteenth-century copies do have some minor Church Slavoinic embellishment here and there; the Ulozhenie of 1649, which formed the basis of Russian law until into the 19th century, is also written in Russian, albeit that individual sections dealing with ecclesiastical matters are written in a language that can plausibly be described as Church Slavonic. 

It is possible to argue that between c.1690 and c.1730 an attempt was made to create what might have had pretensions to become an official language on the basis of Church Slavonic, but this failed, partly because those who had not been educated by the Church found the language very difficult to understand, but also because those who could handle Church Slavonic did not succeed in adapting a language that had been used almost solely for religious topics to cope with more mundane matters.

John Dunn. 
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of anne marie devlin [anne_mariedevlin at HOTMAIL.COM]
Sent: 17 March 2011 19:57
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS]

Dear Seelangers,
this is a copy of a post from another list I subscribe to.  I'm sure many of you know the answer, ad if you don't mind I will send it on.
Many thanks
AM

I know this isn't a normal question for Funknet but...Do any of you know
when Russian became the state language of Russia, replacing Church Slavonic?
For some reason I seem to be having trouble finding out this information.
Thanks,
John

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