Languages in Conflict and War: Ukraine, the Caucasus, and the Baltics

This book explores language conflicts in Soviet successor states: Ukraine, the Russian North Caucasus, Georgia, and the Baltics. Current violent developments in these multiethnic countries with their shared legacies of Russian domination highlight the intertwining of language with conflict and war, reflecting confrontation and challenges to peace. It is shown how core values attached to language in identity formation and feelings of belonging or marginalization, along with attitudes to language use by the in-group in contrast to others, are easily subject to politicization. Forced migration, language erasure and shift, central in today’s post-Soviet conflicts, are also experienced by minorities in the Russian North Caucasus--such as the Circassians--based on their history of Russian colonization. The book will be of interest to readers in a wide range of fields, including sociolinguistics, language policy, and language contact, as well as identity politics, migration linguistics, state and nation building, area studies, post-Soviet and European studies, political science, international relations, and peace and conflict studies.

Karina Vamling is a Professor emerita of Caucasus Studies at Malmö University, Sweden, specializing in Caucasian languages and linguistics, language policy, and ethnic minorities. She is a co-founder of the research center Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus Regional Research (RUCARR). Nadiya Kiss is a Gerda Henkel Fellow at the Department of History of Science, University of Erfurt, Germany. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, migration linguistics, and higher education research.

Bo Petersson is Professor of Political Science at Malmö University, Sweden, where he heads the research center Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus Regional Research (RUCARR). He specializes in Russian and post-Soviet politics, particularly legitimation of authoritarian political systems, and political myth.

Liudmyla Pidkuimukha is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. Research interests include language ideology, language policy and language planning, and anthropological linguistics.