After Newspeak: Language Culture and Politics in Russia from Gorbachev to Putin

255 Pages·1.257 MB·

by  Gorham M.

A N
FTER EWSPEAK

A N
FTER EWSPEAK
Language Culture and Politics
in Russia from Gorbachev to Putin
Michael S. Gorham
Cornell University Press
Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2014 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or
parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in
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Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2014 by Cornell University Press
First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2014
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gorham, Michael S., author.
After Newspeak : language, culture and politics in Russia from
Gorbachev to Putin / Michael S. Gorham.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8014-5262-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8014-7926-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Language policy—Russia (Federation) I. Title.
P119.32.R8G667 2014
306.44'947—dc23 2013038096
Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible
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of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks
and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly
composed of nonwood fi bers. For further information, visit our website
at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.
Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Natalie Peter Gorham (1935–2005)

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Note on Transliteration and Translations xvii
Introduction: Ideologies, Economies, and
Technologies of Language 1
1. The Soviet Legacy: From Political to Cultural Correctness 25
2. Glasnost Unleashed: Language Ideologies in the
Gorbachev Revolution 48
3. Economies of Profanity: Free Speech and Varieties
of Language Degradation 75
4. In Defense of the National Tongue: Guardians, Legislators,
and Monitors of the Norm 98
5. Taking the Offensive: Language Culture and
Policy under Putin 131
viii Contents
6. “Cyber Curtain” or Glasnost 2.0? Strategies for Web-based
Communication in the New Media Age 166
Conclusion 192
Appendix: Sayings and Proverbs about Language 199
Works Cited 203
Index 227
Preface
If members of the sixth convocation of Russia’s lower house of parlia-
ment, the State Duma, were at all chastened by the wave of protests that
followed their contested election in December 2011, one could hardly tell,
judging by the raft of new legislation they proposed in the fi rst year of their
new term. Draft laws restricting the consumption of tobacco and alcohol,
prohibiting the defamation of the Russian Orthodox Church, banning the
propagandizing of homosexual activity, applying the Soviet-era label of
“foreign agent” to NGOs that received funds from outside of Russia, au-
thorizing the creation of “black lists” of Internet sites promoting drugs,
suicide, and child pornography, and banning Americans from adopting
Russian orphans—to list just a few—all came before the legislative body
and were approved with minimal debate. As a result of the extraordinary
productivity, critics nicknamed the Duma “the out-of-control printer”
( vzbesivshiisia printer).
Tucked among the proposals were draft amendments to an existing law
“On the State Language,” which, if approved, would impose fi nes for the