A Second Missed Opportunity: Russian in Retreat as a Global Language

Abstract

Models of language competition usually favor the central language over those of the peripheries. Yet the Russian language has failed to establish its hegemony both in the tsarist and Soviet empires. While the tsarist period is briefly touched upon in the Introduction, the paper concentrates on the "missed second opportunity"—the Soviet and post-Soviet period. It attempts to explain the causes for the second failure against a broad historical background, beginning with Lenin's generous linguistic policy, through the elevation of Russian as the language of the "Soviet People" and of the "Communist Future" in the post-Stalin period, to the current (1992) retreat under local and global challenges. The role of language grievances in promoting national self-assertiveness and causing the present anti-Russian backlash in the republics is highlighted. The paper ends with a discussion of the future prospects of Russian as a second language.

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