Diversifying the use of Russian as a world language

Abstract

Russian is a language widely spoken worldwide. While it is one of the official languages of the United Nations, it is still predominantly spoken in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union, although about 30 million speakers abroad have a near-native proficiency in Russian, and about 70 million speak it as a foreign language. However, there are efforts to diversify the use of Russian as a world language and promote its use in other regions and contexts. Russian is a pluricentric language, meaning that it has multiple centers of use and standardisation. In addition to Russia, where it is the official language, Russian is also widely spoken in several other countries, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. As a result, there is a great deal of linguistic diversity within the Russian-speaking world, which creates a stronger potential to increase linguistic diversity even further and promote the use of a wider range of linguistic varieties and dialects. By recognising the different varieties of Russian and promoting their use in different contexts, it may be possible to improve communication between Russian speakers from different regions and countries. By maintaining the use of Russian in different cultural contexts, it may be possible to facilitate greater cultural exchange and understanding between different parts of the world. Russian as a language of commerce and trade facilitates greater economic cooperation between different countries and regions.

Keywords

• pluricentric language
• linguistic variability
• prescriptivism
• normalisation
• international language
• English and Russian as global languages