Políticas idiomáticas en los estados sucesores de la Unión Soviética: una breve valoración del lenguaje, los derechos lingüísticos y la identidad nacional

Abstract

This paper gives an overview on the different language policies implemented in Russia and in the Soviet successor states, stressing the importance of the historical background, the relations between language and nationalism, and language promotion as a tool for preventing inter-ethnic conflicts and for ensuring a peaceful and balanced linguistic diversity. The text is structured in six sections: historical overview: language policy and nation-building in the USSR; interethnic tensions in the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet context; the awakening of national groups in Russia and linguistic legislation; linguistic rights in the constitutions of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia; basic features of language policy in Lithuania and Latvia; and strategies for a peaceful and balanced management of linguistic diversity in the Russian Federation and the Soviet successor states.