INTRA-ETHNIC AND INTER-ETHNIC LANGUAGE CONFLICTS IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Vida Yu. Mikhalchenko¹, Elena A. Kondrashkina², Svetlana V. Kirilenko³*
¹Prof. Dr., Head Scientific Researcher, Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, RUSSIA, vida-mi@mail.ru
²Senior Scientific Researcher, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, RUSSIA, e.kondrashkina@inbox.ru
³Scientific Researcher, Candidate of Sciences (Philology), Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences; Assoc. Prof., MIIGAiK State University, RUSSIA, svetlanavk@inbox.ru
*Corresponding Author

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the language conflicts that occurred in the Russian Federation in the past and have taken place in the country over the last few years. Language conflicts are clashes between communities of people, which are based on certain problems related to language. They are quite common in multinational and, therefore, multilingual countries. Language conflicts can be intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic. Intra-ethnic language conflict arises between the representatives of one ethnic group, usually it is a narrow circle of a national intellectual class. Most often, such conflicts can be observed in the process of the formation of a literary language during the selection process of a main dialect, i.e. the creation of a single standard language. A vivid example of such language formation conflict can be considered in the case study of a situation that occurred in the Republic of Mari El (Russia) at the end of the 1990s. At that time the Mountain Mari people strongly opposed the unification of the two forms of the Mari language – the Mountain (Hill) variety and the Meadow variety into one single language. That happened because the Mountain Mari people, being in the minority, feared that the Mountain Mari language would eventually disappear, and consequently, the Mountain Mari people would vanish as an ethnic group. Often a conflict arises on the grounds of choosing or changing the graphic basis of a language, as happened with the Tatar language in 1999 when it was transferred into a Latin graphic basis. Inter-ethnic language conflicts can be more heated, as they arise between the representatives of different ethnic groups and affect their national interests. This language situation can be viewed on the following example. The directive introduction of the languages of the titular groups that have the status of the state languages of the republics of Russia into the practice of compulsory school education in some republics in 2004 immediately caused conflicts of interest in different regions (namely in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Komi, Udmurtia, etc.). That step led to a decrease in the number of Russian language lessons, which instantly created conflicts between the parents of Russian children and the parents of children from other ethnic groups. As a result, there ensued the reaction from the government which stated that the Russian language is the natural spiritual framework of the entire multinational country. On the whole, the idea of cultural freedom and the voluntary study of languages is actively promoted at the governmental level. Therefore, a well-thought-out language policy is needed as a means that can mitigate and neutralize language conflicts. Moreover, the search for consensus is required in order to prevent or suppress a language conflict.

Keywords: language conflicts, language communities, multilingual countries