Linguistic pluricentrism and the Russian language

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Abstract

Can the Russian language be regarded as pluricentric since it is used in various countries and regions of the world where different varieties of the language have evolved? Indeed, in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and some other countries, Russian is used as the official language of state bodies and institutions. However, each of these countries has its own linguistic and cultural specificities of grammar, vocabulary and phonetics, which distinguish it from other varieties of the Russian language. In addition, the Russian language is used in countries where it is not an official language, such as Finland, Germany, Israel. There it also has its own characteristics caused by interaction with different languages and cultures. The goal of the study is to show that all these varieties of the Russian language can be viewed as pluricentric variants, i.e. as independent language systems with their own characteristics and differences. Theoretically, the recognition of the Russian language as pluricentric would help to better understand the old and emerging varieties of the language and establish their relationship with each other, making it possible to compare different varieties of the language with each other at all linguistic levels. Practically, such recognition would also make it possible to trace the adaptive possibilities of the Russian language, which vary depending on the region and cultural environment, which in turn will diversify and deepen the study of the Russian language, making it more interesting for the learner. Based on the theory of pluricentricity, the paper compares practices of the language use and seeks to establish commonalities of Russian pluricentrism. Moreover, it highlights the unique features of the Kazakhstan language variety while demonstrating new opportunities for studying the flexible adaptability of the language. This approach will contribute to better understanding and appreciating the richness and versatility of the Russian language as it is used around the world.

About the authors

Damina Shaibakova

Abay Kazakh National Pedagogical University

Author for correspondence.
Email: damina1shaibakova@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0921-9669

Professor of the department of Russian Language and Literature at Abay Kazakh National Pedagogical University. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, contactology and theory of pluricentricity. She is the author or coauthor of 200 articles, monographs and textbooks, as well as a member of the editorial boards of international scholarly journals. She participated as head or implementor in international and national research projects.

Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty

Ekaterina Protassova

University of Helsinki

Email: ekaterina.protassova@helsinki.fi
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8271-4909

holds Ph.D. in Philology and Hab. in Pedagogy. She is Associate Professor at the University of Helsinki. She has authored and co-authored over 400 monographs, articles and book chapters, headed and participated in various international and national projects investigating language pedagogies, child and adult bilingualism, and the role of language and culture in immigrant integration. Her service to the profession includes editorial work for various journals and publishers and organization of seminars and conference panels.

Finland, Helsinki

Maria Yelenevskaya

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

Email: ymaria@technion.ac.il
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7155-8755

Senior researcher in the Department of Humanities and Arts at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Her research is devoted to the use of language in multilingual and multicultural settings, lingua-cultural aspects of immigration, computer-mediated communication, linguistic landscape of multicultural cities and linguacultural aspects of humor. She has authored and co-authored over 90 publications including research papers, monographs and course books. She serves on the editorial board of three international research journals and is a board member of Israel Association for the Study of Language and Society.

Haifa, Israel

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