History: The status of languages in Post-Soviet Caucasus

The collapse of the Soviet Union had great consequences for the peoples and languages of the USSR. The status of languages of the titular nations of the former union republics changed from being one of many minority languages of the USSR to being majority languages in the newly independent states.

However, issues relating to the status of the major languages of the union republics - especially in the Caucasus and Baltic republics were consistently debated topics during the last years of the USSR. As a consequence, speakers of regional languages also raised concerns over the status and development of their particular languages (Riegel & Vasko 65-72).

In the photo below, demonstrators have gathered in front of the Georgian parliament on April 9 1990 (first anniversary of the military attack against peaceful demonstrators on April 9 1989). The text below the reads "Language, Faith, Fatherland", which illustrates the central role assigned to language in the popular movements of this period.

The establishment of state languages of the newly independent states – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia -- was a difficult task, that has not been overcome. After a few years of independence the countries adopted constitutions regulating the status of the majority languages as official languages (including Abkhaz in Abkhazia).

This had been preceded by debates and demonstrations on wide range of issues regarding language planning and language policy (Vamling 1990). One of the most widely debated topics concerned requirements of knowledge of the majority language at work places. As the Russian language was loosing ground as a widely used language in administration (Soviet system) the need for fluency in the local languages increased. The majority languages of the former union republics obtained new functions and, consequently, much work had to be done in developing terminology in new areas that had earlier been dominated by Russian.

In the Caucasus as in the Baltic's, another debated issue in the early Post-Soviet period was language requirements for citizenship (Shevel).

It is quite apparent that language in itself provides more then a simple means of communication but rather becomes an important factor in the identify and unification of people, despite time and space or demographic dispersion.

References:

Oxana Shevel: The Politics of Citizenship in New States, Comparative Politics, v. 41, no. 3 (April 2009): 273-291

Martin Riegl, Tomáš Vaško: Comparison of Language Policies in the Post-Soviet Union Countries on the European Continent, Annual of Language & Politics and politics of identity

Vamling, K. 1990. Språken som maktfaktor i Kaukasien [The power of languages in the Caucasus, in Swedish]. B. Bergh & U. Teleman (red.) Språkets makt. Lund: Lund University Press.

Image Credit: Demonstration in front of the Georgian parliament on April 9 1990 (Photo K. Vamling)