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Russian as a native language in the post-Soviet space in comparison with the results of the 1989 census
 
PIIS221979310013894-6-1
DOI10.37490/S221979310013894-6
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Andrei Manakov 
Occupation: Professor
Affiliation: Pskov State University
Address: Russian Federation, Pskov
Journal namePskov Journal of Regional Studies
EditionIssue 2 (46)
Pages79-98
Abstract

In the post-Soviet period, there was a significant narrowing of the Russian language distribution space. The aim of the study is to identify the changes that have taken place since the collapse of the Soviet Union at the level of the post-Soviet countries in the number and proportion of people who named Russian their native language. The novelty of this study is based on the level of regions in the post-Soviet space and the analysis of the dynamics of such indicators as to the share of the non-Russian population, who named Russian their native language. Almost all post-Soviet states experienced a decrease in the number and share of the Russian-speaking population. Currently, the minimum indicators of the proportion of Russians and Russian-speaking people are characterized by the states of Transcaucasia, as well as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The biggest losses in the post-Soviet period of both the Russian and Russian-speaking population, in relative terms, were experienced by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A special dynamics of these indicators have developed in two states — in the Republic of Belarus and Ukraine. In these countries, the part of the biethnic population that adopted the identity of the titular ethnic group retained the Russian language. Russian, for example, has declined more rapidly in Ukraine than in the categories of people who consider Russian as their native language, and this has led to a decline in the number and share of the Russian population. The situation in the Republic of Belarus, which is unique in the post-Soviet space, was the result of the 1995 referendum that established the status of the state language for Russian. As a result, along with the decrease in the Russian population in the Republic of Belarus, there has been a significant increase in the category of citizens who named Russian their native language.

KeywordsRussian language space, post-Soviet countries, Russian share, Russian-speaking, biethnofory
AcknowledgmentThe reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 20-05-00369 “Transformation of the Ethnocultural Space of Post-Soviet States: Factors, Trends, Prospects”.
Received22.06.2021
Publication date28.06.2021
Number of characters37266
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Introduction. The Russian linguistic space, which is most often understood as the main geographical area of distribution of the Russian language, is a very multifaceted object of research, studied from the standpoint of various sciences. Ethnosociologists usually pay attention to the multiplicity of indicators characterizing the prevalence of the Russian language. This is, for example, the proportion of the population fluent in Russian, or the assessment of the degree of use of the Russian language in various spheres of life. But even in the characterization of Russian language proficiency, there are several stages. The level of Russian language proficiency is usually determined using sociological surveys, and much less often - population censuses. It should be noted that in the post-Soviet space, almost immediately after the collapse of the USSR, monitoring began to be carried out, including tracking the dynamics of the proportion of the population of young states, to one degree or another speaking Russian. In particular, we can give examples of such studies as “The position of the Russian language in the newly independent states (CIS and Baltic countries)” (2007)1, “The Russian language in the post-Soviet space: a comparative study of the prevalence” (2009)2, “Dynamics the prevalence of the Russian language in everyday communication of the population of the countries of Northern Eurasia ”(2018)3 , and others, most of which were carried out within the framework of the regular project “ Eurasian Monitor…”.

 1. Russian-speaking is widespread not only where Russians live. [Electronic resource]: URL: >>>> style="text-decoration: underline;"> (date of the application 17.01.2021).

2. Russian language in the post-Soviet space: a comparative study of prevalence. Analytical report on the results of secondary data analysis. ANO "Sociological Workshop Zadorin" (ZIRCON Research Group). [Electronic resource]: URL: http://www.zircon.ru/upload/iblock/0e2/090311.pdf (date of application 17.01.2021).

3. Zadorin I. V., Podobed I. V. Dynamics of the prevalence of the Russian language in everyday communication of the population of the countries of Northern Eurasia (according to long-term polls within the framework of the "Eurasian Monitor" project), 2018. [Electronic resource]: URL: http://www.zircon.ru/upload/iblock/3ee/dinamika-rasprostranennosti-russkogo-yazyka-v-bytovom-obshchenii.pdf (date of application 20.01.2021).
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These studies make it possible to assess the current situation in the use of the Russian language, they also include an analysis of the dynamics of indicators for certain time intervals, which allows making predictions. But the authors of the reports on the results of the implementation of these projects emphasize that all the parameters of the prevalence of the Russian language used and described in the reports are still subjective in nature. A statistically more reliable indicator recorded during population censuses is the share of the population who consider Russian as their native language. Although this indicator cannot characterize the Russian linguistic space as a whole, it allows one to quantitatively assess the dynamics over the post-Soviet period of the basic component in the vertical structure of the linguistic space, corresponding to the share of the Russian-speaking population in the newly independent states.
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The goal of the study is to track changes in the number and proportion of people who consider Russian as their native language in different post-Soviet states over the period since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Research information base. As an information background of the research the statistics from the website demoscope.ru4wasusedon the ethnic composition and native language of the population of the Soviet republics on the results of the last All-Union Population Census of 1989, the All-Russian Population Census of 2010 5,as well as statistics on the ethnic composition and native language of the population of other countries of the post-Soviet space based on the results of population censuses held in the first and early second decade of the 21st, presented on the website PopulationstatisticsofEasternEurope & formerUSSR6, official statistical sites of states7, in collections and analytical reports8.

 4. All-Union Population Census of 1989. Distribution of the USSR population by nationality and language, the population of the Union republics by the most numerous nationalities and language. [Electronic resource]: URL: >>>> style="text-decoration: underline;">; All-Russian population census 2010. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation.[Electronicresource]: URL: http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_10.php (date of application 10.12.2020).

5. The population of the most numerous nationalities by their native language in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation // Results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census. Pp. 240–305.

6. Population statistics of Eastern Europe & former USSR. [Electronicresource]: URL: >>>> (date of application 10.12.2020).

7. EestiStatistika. [Electronicresource]: URL: https://andmed.stat.ee/et/stat; Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia. [Electronicresource]: URL: >>>> National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus. Results of the 2009 population census. [Electronicresource]: URL: >>>> National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova.[Electronicresource]: URL:https://statistica.gov.md/pageview.php?l=ru&idc=295&id=2234;

8. Russian as a native language in Lithuania, 2011. [Electronicresource]: URL:https://schelkunov.livejournal.com/29016.html; Population census of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2009. Brief summary.[Electronicresource]: URL:https://yvision.kz/post/89105; Results of the 2009 Population Census of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.[Electronicresource]: URL: >>>> (dateof application 10.12.2020) (date of application 10.12.2020).
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The study included statistics on Russian as a native language based on the results of the 2009–2014 population censuses for the following eight states of the post-Soviet space: the Russian Federation (2010), the Republic of Belarus (2009), Estonia (2011), Lithuania (2011), Latvia (2011), Kazakhstan (2009), Kyrgyzstan (2009), Moldova (2014, in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic the census was in 2015). In the rest of the republics, the proportion of the Russian population is now extremely low, and it does not differ much from the proportion of the population who call Russian their native language.
5 The degree of knowledge of the problem. To date, a significant array of works has accumulated on the problems of the Russian language space in the post-Soviet period. Numerous publications highlight the issues of the functioning of the Russian language in individual states of the near abroad or in groups of post-Soviet countries. As an example, we can cite works where these issues are considered in the Baltic countries [16; 38], the Republic of Belarus [6; 25], on the territory of Ukraine [19; 23; 35], in Moldova [7; 13], the states of Transcaucasia [3], individual countries of Central Asia [22; 27; 33; 39] or within the entire Central Asian macroregion [8; 21; 34]. In addition, attention is drawn to the role of the Russian language in the formation of the all-Russian identity [10].
6 There is also a significant layer of publications devoted to various aspects of the development and functioning of the Russian language within the entire post-Soviet space. So, a significant place is given to the consideration of the role of the Russian language in the formation of a single information space of the CIS [26], intercultural dialogue in the post-Soviet space [11; 12]. There are works of a general plan, where attention is focused on the narrowing of the Russian-speaking space in the post-Soviet period [24; 29; thirty]. This problem is sometimes touched upon in the process of studying the migration activity of the Russian-speaking population in the post-Soviet space [15; 37], or the linguistic identity of the population of neighboring countries [14].

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