Language Policy in the Soviet Union

Chapter 5: The Caucasus

Overview of the Caucasus

• One of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world

• Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, and parts of Russian SFSR (Chechnia, Ingushetia, Daghestan)

Overview of the Caucasus, cont’d.

• Armenian: Indo-European (the only I-E language in the Caucasus), long literary tradition, unique script

• Georgian: S. Caucasian (Kartvelian) , long literary tradition, unique script

• Azerbaijani: Turkic, Arabic script until 1929, Latin 1929-1939, Cyrillic since 1939

• PLUS: Dozens of other minority groups and languages, most with only oral traditions

Overview of the Caucasus, cont’d.

• Titular languages (Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian) competed with Russian, but minority languages competed with both Russian and titular languages

• Only titular languages had consistent support in educational system, plus Abkhazian

Demographics and Historical Overview

• Transcaucasia is bounded by Caucasus, Caspian, and Black Seas, and includes Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, plus Daghestan ASSR and Chechen-Ingush ASSR (both part of Russian SFSR)

• 1918 Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan declare independence

• 1921 Red Army marches into Georgia• There were attempts to keep the three territories

in one Republic until 1936

Demographics and Historical Overview, cont’d.

• Ten largest languages in the Caucasus: Azerbaijani (5.5M), Armenian (4.1M), Georgian (3.5M), Chechen (756K), Avar (483K), Lezgi (383K), Dargwa (287K), Kumyk (228K), Ingush (186K), Lak (100K), and for all of these over 90% of population claimed the indigenous language as their native tongue in 1979

Ethnicity in the Caucasus

• COMPLEX!• Four groups:

– Circassian/Adyghe tribes of NE and Black Sea coast (Adyghes, Cherkess, Kabardians)

– Indigenous Caucasian nations (Chechen, Ingush)– Descendants of locals + 13th c Turkic invaders

(Karacay, Balkars, Kumyks)– Iranian-speakers (Ossetians)– And much smaller groups…

Ethnicity in the Caucasus, cont’d.

• Ethnicity cannot be established purely on the basis of linguistics, due to migrations and deportations

• Some groups did not have an established name/identity for themselves as a whole (beyond level of tribe/clan/religion), and used place-names to refer to themselves, but Soviets imposed ethnonyms and boundaries where they were missing…

Overview of language policy in Caucasus

• High language density & diversity made implementation of Soviet language planning difficult

• Several, well-established written languages: Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian; these made it hard to implement Russification

• Phonological complexity of many languages made it hard to devise orthography

The Georgian SSR

• 70% (5.4M) Georgian, 7% Russian, 5% Azerbaijani

• Caucasian, Indo-European (Russian, Armenian, Osetin), and Afro-Asiatic (Assyrian, Neo-Aramaic, Semitic) languages

The Georgian SSR, cont’d.

• 337 CE converted to Christianity and developed written language in 5th c

• Very high literacy rates, well-established sense of ethnic identity equated with linguistic identity, which they fought hard to retain throughout Soviet era

• 1970 99% claimed Georgian as first language, only 23% claimed Russian as second language (but these figures might overreport Georgian)

The Georgian SSR, cont’d.

• Mid-1970s attempt to make Russian the majority language, promoted by Shevardnadze, all higher education was to be only in Russian

• 1978 attempt to annul status of Georgian as official language of the Republic, 5K students protested, attempt was dropped

Status of Caucasian Languages in Georgian SSR

• Abkhaz (91K), Cyrillic alphabet in 1862, 1926-8 Latin alphabet, 1929 another version of Latin alphabet, 1938 Georgian alphabet adopted, Abkhaz was subjected to Georgianization, use of and instruction in Abkhaz was banned, but schools reopened after Stalin died

• Osetin also used Georgian alphabet• 1954 Abkhaz & Osetin converted to Cyrillic

Status of Caucasian Languages in Georgian SSR, cont’d.

• 3 other South Caucasian languages spoken in Georgia: Laz (2K), Mingrelian (.5M), Svan (35K) -- were not developed as written languages

• Laz & Mingrelian were lumped together as a single “Zan” language, despite mutual incomprehensibility

• Mingrelians are bilingual with Georgian or Abkhaz and consider themselves Georgian

• Laz -- most speakers are in Turkey, and use Turkish as literary language, but those in Georgia use Georgian as literary language, like the Mingrelians

Status of Caucasian Languages in Georgian SSR, cont’d.

• Bats (3K), a Nakh-Daghestanian language, all are bilingual with Georgian, which they use as literary language, children are not learning Bats, which is endangered; 1859 grammar of Bats published (in German)

Status of Caucasian Languages in Georgian SSR, cont’d.

• Soviet promises of native language education never realized for Bats, Mingrelian, Svan

• Only Abkhaz was developed, but only alongside Georgian & Russian, and it suffered under pressure from both

• Strong Georgian commitment to retaining their language

• Russians emigrated and there is very little Russian instruction in Georgia in post-Communist era

The Armenian SSR

• Literary language since 406 CE; spoken language has since diverged phonetically; many dialects

• Smallest & most homogeneous Caucasian republic, 3.3M 93% Armenian, similar number live in diaspora, troubled history with Turkey

• 1918-20 independent; early Soviet years tolerated Armenian nationalism; situation reversed after Great Purges 1936-38

• Soviet orthographical reforms 1922 & 1940• 1978 Protests reversed attempt to remove guarantee of

Armenian as official language• Overall, Soviet language policy has had little impact on

Armenian

The Azerbaijan SSR

• Largest of 3 Caucasian republics, includes Nagorno-Karabagh (embattled Armenian population), part of it is non-contiguous (separated by Armenia, adding to tensions)

• Azerbaijani identity is new; previously referred to as Turks, Tatars, Caucasian Muslims

• Border with Iran; S. Azerbaijani spoken in Iran• Pan-Turkic identity discouraged by Soviet state• Switch from nativization to Russification after the Purges• Switch from Arabic to Latin script in 1929 – first Turkic

people to use Latin script

The North Caucasus

• S. part of RSFSR bordering Azerbaijan & Georgia, bounded by Black Sea & Caspian Sea

• Conquered by Tsar 1780s, embattled ever since• Soviets pursued policy of fragmenting the region

into small parts to keep down resistance; massive forced exile of key ethnic groups (Balkar, Chechen, Ingush, Kalmyk, Karachay) in 1940s (over 2M!)

• 1956 Krushchev denounced deportations and rehabilitates citizens, but impact is huge

Daghestan

• Autnomonous territory in RSFSR, 1.9M, extreme language density

• 30 languages, 10 developed (though not thoroughly) as literary languages

• Pre-Soviet period: Arabic for religion & law, Russian for trade & some administration, Azerbaijani & Kumyk for communication between mountain and plains people, Avar & Lezgi for communication within regions, indigenous languages for local purposes

• Soviet period: domination of Azerbaijani & Russian diminishes all other languages

Linguistic map of Daghestan

• No Caucasian languages in Daghestan had a written form at time of Bolshevik Revolution

• See table pp. 128-9

• In Soviet times, Russian was sole lingua franca, sole language of higher education

Language Planning and Development

• Switch from Arabic to Azerbaijan had begun before Bolshevik Revolution and led to a sense of pan-Turkic identity

• Daghestani Bolshevik leaders initially promoted a return to Arabic in order to reduce pan-Turkic identity; Arabic was official until 1923, when Azerbaijani was declared official and then replaced by Kumyk, and some indigenous languages were also developed

Language Planning and Development, cont’d.

• 1928 Official languages: Azerbaijani, Kumyk, Nogai (Turkic); Avar, Chechen, Dargin, Lak, Lezgi (Caucasian); Tat (Iranian); Russian

• Effectively, Russian became the only lingua franca

• Indigenous languages written with Arabic script initially; 1928 converted to Latin script; 1938 converted to Cyrillic; never developed beyond elementary school use

Chechen and Ingush

• Chechen & Ingush are closely related, but not mutually intelligible, but most people are passively bilingual

• Chechen (almost 1M) is the second largest Caucasian language (after Georgian); Ingush 273K

• Chechen also was written in Arabic, then Latin, then Cyrillic script; retention is high: 98% in 1989

Chechen and Ingush, cont’d.

• 1944 Chechen & Ingush nationalities abolished and people deported to Kazakhstan & Siberia (nearly half died in transit)

• 1956 allowed to return, but did not get their property back, and some were denied employment rights

• All classrooms were multi-ethnic, and Russian became language of instruction

• Chechen language teachers begin training in 1981

Summary View of the Caucasus

• Policies designed to fragment the region• Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani remained strong

and did not suffer much from Russification, nor did urban centers

• Armenia relatively homogeneous• Only 0.4% of Armenians & Georgians, and only 1.9% of

Azerbaijanis speak Russian as a first language• Knowledge of Russian as a second language:

– Erevan 35.5% in 1959 > 60.6% in 1979– Baku 46% in 1959 > 62.9% in 1979– Tbilisi 42% in 1959 > 32.7% in 1979

Kalmyk

• 173K, with 90 ethnic groups in their Autonomous SSR (and 38% Russians)

• Kalmyk, a Mongolian language, uses Classical Mongolian as its literary language

• 1924 converted to Cyrillic; 1931 converted to Latin; 1938 converted to Cyrillic

• Language instruction in Kalmyk begun in 1990