Politicization of Language and Language Preferential Policy in Ethnic Territorial Autonomies

811
DOI: 10.20542/0131-2227-2016-60-9-67-75

N. Borisova, Perm State University, Russian Federation, 614990 Perm, Bukireva Str., 15 (borisova_nv@psu.ru

Acknowledgements. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project ¹ 15-18-00034 “Securing a Balance in Interethnic Relations: Regional Autonomies, the State Integrity and the Rights of Ethnic Minorities”.


Abstract. Traditionally, language is regarded as both a primordial basis for an ethnic group identity and an instrument of its reproduction that needs external socialization and special state policy. Moreover, language causes the fragmentation of society and, by that, it comes into political input of native speakers to enforce their rights. It leads to ethnic conflicts. All this makes language politically significant. There are two main ways for ethnic conflict resolution: institutionalization of power-concentrating system or institutionalization of consociate power-sharing system. The last one implies an ethnic territorial autonomy, the institutionalization of which helps to prevent, manage and resolve ethnic conflicts and hence to remove language from politics. Language preferential policy along with other special policies and a power-sharing system are the main elements of an ethnic territorial autonomy. The examples of Vojvodina (Serbia) and Andhra Pradesh state (India) serve to educe the logic of the ethnic minority groups' language depoliticization. This is because language is no longer the cause for political requirement of a group survival. In other words, preferential practices of ethnic minority language usage are routinized in widen social communications, public administration and policymaking. It means that the neutralization of the language importance as a society fragmentation factor marks the language preferential policy success.

Keywords: ethnic territorial autonomy, language preferential policy, ethnic minority, politicization of language, Vojvodina (Serbia), Andhra Pradesh (India) 


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For citation:
Borisova N. Politicization of Language and Language Preferential Policy in Ethnic Territorial Autonomies. World Eñonomy and International Relations, 2016, vol. 60, no. 9, pp. 67-75. https://doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2016-60-9-67-75



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