Language legislation in Russia

[curt fredric woolhiser]

>>
>>RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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>>RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 233, Part I, 13 December 2002
>>
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>>DUMA APPROVES BILL ON STATE LANGUAGE IN SECOND READING... The State
>>Duma on 11 December approved in the second reading a draft law that
>>would establish Russian as the state language, ORT reported.
>>According to "The Moscow Times" on 28 November, the bill requires
>>that Russian be used in all official contacts and bans "foreign words
>>that have commonly accepted Russian equivalents" as well as
>>"vernacular, disdainful, or foul" language. However, it does not
>>specify how the law would be enforced or how language offenders would
>>be punished. ORT noted that contrary to earlier speculation, the
>>latest version of the bill does not impose fines for distorting the
>>Russian language in public. "The Moscow Times" also commented that
>>since the Duma approved the bill in the first reading in June,
>>deputies have loosened proposed restrictions on journalists and
>>television personalities, who would be able to use prohibited
>>language if it is "an inalienable part of an artistic concept." LB
>>
>>...BUT EXPERTS SAY IT WILL NOT WORK. Professor Vitalii Kostomarov of
>>the Pushkin Institute of the Russian Language in Moscow told ORT on
>>11 December that while he has long advocated state policies to
>>preserve the Russian language, he expects the bill approved by the
>>Duma to be a dead letter. Similarly, Professor Maksim Kronhaus,
>>director of the Linguistics Institute of the Russian State Humanities
>>University, described attempts to legislate foreign borrowings as
>>absurd, "The Moscow Times" reported on 28 November. In addition,
>>Kronhaus said the draft law under consideration in the Duma is too
>>vague to be effective. For instance, it states that the rules on
>>using Russian as the state language apply to "activities" of private
>>organizations as well as to official contacts by state bodies. It
>>also covers advertising but not brand names or "'functional' signs
>>such as exit markers or stop signs." LB
>>
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