Re: discrimination in the Baltics

On Apr 24, 1:10 pm, "J. Anderson" <anderso...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Eugene Holman" <hol...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:holman-2404090747550001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



In article <%65Il.3944$b04.1...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "J. Anderson"
<anderso...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Peteris Cedrins" <cedr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:21b8e561-e8c8-4a87-ba70-a679bdc7baa0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<deletions>

Well, like I've said several times, Finland's bilingualism is of no avail
when one tries to understand the language situation in Latvia and
Estonia.

At the risk of precipitating an attack, I disagree.

Finland's bilingualism is the result of a situation with many features of
the situation in Estonia and Latvia. The language of a former colonizer,
Swedish, lost functionaity and status in conjunction with a change in the
political status of the country, with the language of the indigenous
majority assuming the lost status and functions in addition to becoming a
strong symbol of a self-assertive nationalism. Other details differ, but
the basic scenario is the same. Language, particularly the future status
of Swedish, was a serious political issue in Finland during the century
that led to independence from Russia, as well as during the two decades
afterwards. The language issue was only consigned to the back burner when
the entire existence of an independent Finland was threatened during the
late 1930s. The man called upon to head the military and, eventually,
steer the ship of state, Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim, was a member of the
Swedish-speaking minority, whose Finnish was, well, spotty. Although
Mannerheim is not universally loved in Finland, there is general agreement
that his ability to work with both Nazi Germany and the USSR saved Finland
from a far worse fate than it eventually sufferd consequent to WW II. This
serves to remind some people that the Swedish-speaking minority has
contacts and skills not easily found among the Finnish-speaking majority.

Today Finland is fragmented. There are parts of Finland where only Finnish
is spoken, some parts where only Swedish is spoken, as well as some parts
where one of the two languages is the majority one and the other the
minority one. In Helsinki, where the Swedish-speaking population is
slightly less than ten per cent, service in Swedish is available, although
it often has to be looked for. Swedish speakers, for the most part, are
completely fluent in Finnish, although they appreciate service in Swedish
if it is there and competent. In more bilingual cities, such as Vaasa,
where about thirty per cent of the population is Swedish speaking, most
people seem to be comfortable in both languages, and customer service is
initiated in both: "Huomenta. Morron." In Mariahamn, the capital of the
100% Swedish-speaking Åland Islands, service encounters are initiated in
Swedish, as a rule, but nowadays most people in service jobs can speak
Finnish as well, at least according to my experience. Replace Helsinki,
Vaasa, and Mariehamn with Tartu, Tallinn, and Narva, and you see a similar
pattern in Estonia.

In the absence of some unforeseen eventuality, bilingualism in Estonia
will resolve into a pattern similar to the bilingualism of Finland for the
same geopragmatic and demographic reasons. Russian in Estonia is already
developing local traits differentiating it from the Russian of Russia. In
a few generations there will be a distinct Estlandsryska just as we today
have Finlandssvenska.

Nothing in what you write above supports your claim that Finland could serve
as an example when dealing with the language situation in Estonia and
Latvia.

Although fluent in both our national languages and having lived in this
country for more than 40 years you still don't seem to have grasped the
essence of our bilingualism. In the joint pre-1809 kingdom of Sweden both
languages, Swedish and Finnish, were spoken on both sides of the Baltic Sea.
This natural bilingualism in Finland goes back to at least the 13th century.
For obvious reasons, the administrative language of the whole realm was
Swedish, and so was (after the Reformation) the language of higher
education. In the Middle Ages a broad zone along the southern and western
coasts of Finland was still Svecophone, and since the interior of the
country in those times was fairly sparsely populated, the Swedish language
had a much higher share of the population than generally presumed.

Swedish is a natural language in Finland, contrary to German or Russian in
the Baltics. The Swedish-speaking farmers and fishermen along the coast were
not upperclass 'colonizers' but simply part of the indigenous population
(like the Swedish-speakers on the Estonian islands). After the separation in
1809, when Finland became a grand duchy under Romanov rule, it was the
educated (and thus Svecophone) class, poets like Runeberg and Topelius,
statesmen like Snellman, that created the idea of a specific Finnish
patria -- still in 1809 the peasants and burghers of both languages would
have prefered an undivided Sweden to the unsecure future in connection with
Russia. What's more, also the political struggle for recognition of and full
rights for the Finnish language was mainly fought by Svecophones.

In all the above there are no helpful parallels at all regarding the
Baltics. It is very counterproductive to bring Finland into the discussion
about the position of Russian in Latvia and Estonia. Finland has been
created, developed and defended by Swedish-speakers and Finnish-speakers
side by side and hand in hand. This is our joint country and has been so
since time immemorial. The situation is totally different in the Baltics.

Eugene is hoping none of us remember the "Tashkent Conferences". Here
is an extract from a paper written in 1988 (note the year):

Developments in Soviet policy since 1973, however, have resulted in an
increasing Russification of the educational system. A decree issued in
that year, On the State of and Measures for Further Improving the
Teaching of Russian Language and Literature in the National Schools of
the Union Republics, "approved the practice of establishing mixed
schools employing both Russian and the native language as languages of
instruction"(Solchanyk 1982b:26).The First Tashkent Conference (1975),
Experience in the Study and Teaching of the Russian Language in
Schools and in Higher and Secondary Specialized Institutions of the
Country, dealt, among other things, with the topic of preschool
education: “Naturally, the question arises: should we not begin the
study of the Russian language here as well, with games and
discussions?"(cited in Solchanyk 1982b:27).In addition, it was
proposed "that the teaching of Russian be initiated beginning in grade
1 in all the national republics"(Solchanyk 1982b:27- only nine
republics were doing so at the time. Increases were also called for in
the number of hours of Russian language instruction in the native-
language schools, the number of mixed schools, and the number of
schools with enriched or intensive Russian language classes. The field
of higher education was addressed by the Presidium of the USSR Academy
of Sciences in 1978, which concluded that "the specialized
disciplines, which are required subjects in institutions of higher
education in the USSR, should be taught in Russian"(Solchanyk 1982b:
30).

Many of these proposals became official law in the October 13, 1978
decree, On Measures for Further Improving the Study and Teaching of
the Russian Language in the Union Republics. This legislation dealt
with several significant areas, including "expanding the system of
intensive study of Russian at the expense of the redistribution of
hours in the curricula; disseminating more widely the practice of
teaching specialized disciplines [in institutions of higher learning]
exclusively in Russian; [and] introducing Russian language study in
all pre-school institutions and preparatory classes" (Solchanyk 1982b:
30). The effect of this legislation in the Uzbek SSR can be seen in
the growth of both preschools with Russian language instruction and
general education schools with intensive Russian study. The former
increased from 211 in 1978 to 618 in 1979 to 1050 in 1981-82. The
total projected for 1985 was 2212 (Fierman 1985:231). The latter grew
from 400 in 1980 to 676 in 1981 to 1959 in 1982 (Fierman 1985:221).

Further proposals were made at the Second Tashkent Conference (1979),
The Russian Language - the Language of Friendship and Cooperation of
the Peoples of the USSR. It was recommended:

.... that specialized disciplines in the professional and technical
schools be taught in Russian and that Russian be used in the teaching
of other subjects in the upper classes of the general education
schools... that the social studies, general education and specialized
disciplines in institutions of higher education be taught in Russian
starting in the second or third year, and that the study of Russian
should begin in the first or second year at the expense of other
subjects. Moreover, students in institutions of higher and secondary
specialized education are expected to write their course and diploma
projects, as well as reports and essays in their major field of study,
in Russian (Solchanyk 1982b:32).

Needless to say, the general response of the nationalities to these
measures was not favorable, especially in the Baltic republics, the
non-Russian Slavic republics (the Ukraine and Belorussia), and
Georgia, where various protests and demonstrations occurred and many
national scholars spoke out against the new policies. Since this
opposition, Moscow has backed off somewhat, but there is no indication
that the overall goal of Russification has been abandoned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I draw your attention to the last sentence, written in 1988: " ...
there is no indication that the overall goal of Russification has been
abandoned."

The Kremlin's glove puppet never gives up. Does it get wearisome
having Moskau's hand up your khyber continuosly? Worth the money?
.

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