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Multilingualism in Post‐Soviet Successor States
Author(s) -
Pavlenko Aneta
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
language and linguistics compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.619
H-Index - 44
ISSN - 1749-818X
DOI - 10.1111/lnc3.12024
Subject(s) - successor cardinal , linguistics , multilingualism , context (archaeology) , politics , language policy , political science , sociolinguistics , sociology , history , law , philosophy , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology
After the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the fourteen successor states began to distance themselves from Russia and its language. This situation was strikingly different from most post‐colonial states of Asia, Africa, and Latin America that maintained the languages of the former colonizers. For researchers, the post‐Soviet context became a natural sociolinguistic ‘experiment’, in which the previously shared political and linguistic system offered a common starting point for language reforms and the different outcomes illuminated the effects of demographic, political, economic, and social factors. The purpose of the present article is to outline the key findings of the research to date, to discuss their implications for sociolinguistic theory, and to identify gaps and productive directions for future inquiry. © 2013 The Author. Language and Linguistics Compass © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd