"Language demarcation" in Estonian prisons

[William Gardella]

Elena Gapova <e.gapova at GMAIL.COM> writes:

> The purposes are most probably practical, but the way practical
> matters are handled usually has a symbolic dimension as well.  It is
> amazing how language competence is made "material" (i.e. visual) and a
> basis for an elementary social delineation. It is also interesting how
> the metaphor that pops up in everybody's head is the yellow star from
> WWII (I wonder if Russian political prosoners can in any way be
> related to this symbolic use of language).   
> e.g. 

It's hard to imagine this kind of policy not having an effect on
prisoners' treatment by prison/justice officials.  Persons of
"undetermined citizenship" (i.e. persons not descended from those
already considered citizens under the pre-Soviet 1938 citizenship law,
mostly speakers of Russian as a first language) can only become
naturalized Estonian citizens if they pass oral and written examinations
in the Estonian language*, meaning that the A- and B- crowd as well as
the unlabeled crowd mentioned in the article probably aren't
naturalized.  Officially, this distinction doesn't matter in terms of
most legal rights (right to contract or do business, or right to have
legal representation, etc.), only the right to vote in national
elections.  But as with immigration and naturalization laws in other
parts of the world, I'm sure that the labelling and demarcation of
citizen vs. noncitizen does affect the attitude of some officials, and
any such difference in treatment would probably be more extreme in
prisons.

* http://estonia.eu/about-estonia/society/citizenship.html (N.B. that
  there is an exemption for minors under 15 whose parents are
  nationalized, as well as a partial exemption for persons born before
  1930; the latter don't have to pass an exam in written Estonian.)

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