State Languages of Republics: To the Question on the Modeling of the Status, Functional Role and Situations of Use

About the author:

Marina V. Batiushkina, Cand. Sci. (Ped.), Senior Consultant of the Department of Linguistic Expertise аnd Systematization of Legislation, Legislative Assembly of the Omsk Region; soulangeana@mail.ru

Abstract:

The article presents the results of a study of the legal discourse, purposefully modeled around the use of the state languages of the republics that make up the Russian Federation. On the basis of the analysis of the space of legislative texts, the autor provides an idea of the notion “the state language of the republic”. The simulated situations of using the state languages of the republics are considered. Attention is paid to the way in which, according to the legislator, the use of the state languages of the republics “should be”, and why many legal norms and rules concerning the state languages of the republics cannot work. The author tackles the contrast between the integrational functional role of the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation and one of the state languages of the republics.

The variants of the ratio of the state languages of the republics, alternative and duplicate ways of using the state languages of the republics are shown. Particular attention is paid to such a debatable issue as the equivalence of texts of republican laws published in different state languages. To solve the questions posed, methods of conceptual, contextual and interpretative analysis, classification and generalization are used. Texts of constitutions and laws on state languages are considered as the main sources. The obtained results can be used in the construction of the definition of “state language”.

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