Resumen de A politics of language: language as a symbol in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its aftermath

David F. Marshall

• Language was a crucial symbol in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and continues to be so äs nationalities attempt to gain their independence in member nations ofthe Commonwealth of Independent States. Both centripetal and centrifugal social forces operated on the Soviet Union, and these forces are examinedfrom eight perspectives:

  a. the Communist Party ofthe Soviet Union vs. nationalist fronts;

  b. the imperial legacy vs. national identity;

  c. Soviet language policy vs. language preservation;

  d. Soviet education vs. nationality language perception;

  e. nationality cadres vs. mass politicization;

  f. religion (or its lack) vs. national religious traditions;

  g. the military vs. itself;

  h. centralized economic planning vs. nationality environmentalism.

  In each of these eight areas, the political, economic, social, and sociolinguistic forces brought about the dissolution of the Soviet Union; today, the same forces are operative on a smaller scale in the individual CIS republics, äs evidenced by movements for independence in most areas of the CIS. The sociolinguistic dynamics of these forces are examined to see why language became a political symbol for self-determination and independence.