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The Estonian SSR Language Law (1989): Background and Implementation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Toivo U. Raun
Toivo U. Raun*
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
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Extract

The Estonian Language Law, passed by the Estonian SSR Supreme Soviet on 18 January 1989, was the first of its kind in the Soviet Union. It helped launch a wave of similar legislation in other union republics and symbolized a new level of assertion of republican rights against Moscow and the tradition of centralized control. It is no coincidence that the Language Law was drafted and became available for public discussion at virtually the same time as Estonia's declaration on sovereignty (16 November 1988), also a first in Gorbachev's USSR. Indeed in late 1988 and early 1989 Estonia was leading the way in the movement for decentralization in the Soviet empire as the major political goal began to shift from autonomy to independence. This article will assess the origins and nature of the law itself as well as its implementation and impact over a nearly five-year period to late 1993.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 23 , Issue 3: (Special Topic Issue) Implementing Language Laws: Perestroika and its Legacy in Five Republics , September 1995 , pp. 515 - 534
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 Association for the Study of Nationalities of Eastem Europe and ex-USSR, Inc. 

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References

Notes

1. Sakkeus, Luule, Post-War Migration Trends in the Baltic States, RU Series B, No. 20 (Tallinn: Estonian Interuniversity Population Research Centre, 1993), p. 5.Google Scholar

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5. For background on these developments, see Rein Taagepera, “Estonia's Road to Independence,” Problems of Communism, 38, No. 6 (1989), pp. 11–26 and Toivo U. Raun, Estonia and the Estonians, 2nd edn (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1991), pp. 222-239.Google Scholar

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16. Keeleseadusest, pp. 13–20; Rahva Hääl, 23 April 1989, p. 4.Google Scholar

17. Rahva Hääl, 9 April 1989, p. 2.Google Scholar

18. translated, Literally, the NLB's name in Estonian—Riiklik Keeleamet—means “State Language Office,” but it prefers to be known in English by the term used here in the text.Google Scholar

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22. Rahva Hääl, 24 November 1991, p. 2; Postimees, 2 February 1993, p. 1.Google Scholar

23. Rahva Hääl, 11 September 1993, p. 9; Postimees, 21 September 1993, p. 5.Google Scholar

24. Rahva Hääl, 4 February 1992, p. 3; 11 September 1993, p. 9; Interview with Mart Rannut, 5 October 1992.Google Scholar

25. Vestnik statistiki, No. 6 (1991), p. 76.Google Scholar

26. Eesti Elu, 30 June 1992, p. 13.Google Scholar

27. Rahva Hääl, 23 July 1991, p. 2.Google Scholar

28. Rahva Hääl, 13 July 1993, p. 4; Helsingin Sanomat, 11 July 1993, p. A4.Google Scholar

29. Bungs, Dzintra, Saulius Girnius and Riina Kionka, “Citizenship Legislation in the Baltic States,” RFE/RL Research Report, 1, No. 50 (1992), p. 38; Legal Acts of Estonia, No. 7 (1993), pp. 163-164.Google Scholar

30. Eesti Vabariigi maakondade, linnade ja alevite rahvastik, I, p. 32; Raun, Estonia and the Estonians, p. 131.Google Scholar

31. Narva Postimees, 12 November 1993, p. 5.Google Scholar

32. Rahva Hääl, 4 February 1993, p. 4; Eesti Ekspress, 30 July 1993, p. 12; Narva Postimees, November 12, 1993, p. 5.Google Scholar

33. Postimees, 21 September 1993, p. 5.Google Scholar

34. For a brief analysis of traditional Russian views of Estonians and the Estonian language, see Mikhail Veller, “Ne dumai ob estontsakh svysoka,” Ogonek, No. 38 (1993), pp. 34–35.Google Scholar

35. Eesti Elu, 30 June 1992, p. 13; Interview with Mart Rannut, 5 October 1992; Narva Postimees, 12 November 1993, p. 5.Google Scholar

36. , Grin “Estonian Language Law,” p. 198. See also Maurais, “Sociolinguistic Comparison,” pp. 117-126 and Jacques Maurais, “Redéfinition du statut des langues en Union Soviétique,” Language Problems and Language Planning, 16 (1992), pp. 1-20.Google Scholar

37. , See for example, Ülle Rannut, “Keeleliste konfliktide lahendamisest ja lahenemisest,” Sirp, 13 November 1992, p. 5; 20 November 1992, p. 17.Google Scholar