State Language, Language Situation and Language Policy in Legislation: Representations in the Russian Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of language situation and language policy through the analysis of legislation. Taking a social constructionist approach to law, the authors claim that a legal text can be explored for the purpose of discovering typical representations and linguistic resources that conceptualise languages, language situation and language policy. The paper offers a concise overview of domestic and foreign scholarship in the field as well as offering definitions for the basic categories used in the research. The analysis of the Russian Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” shows that the Russian language is constructed as a state language, which has a few aspects. It is represented as an instrument of national unity, an instrument of maintaining culture, and an instrument of international impact. In terms of semantic roles, the Russian language is represented not only as an agent and instrument, but also as a patient, the object of negative and positive impact. The contexts mentioning the Russian language and other languages and idioms construct the relations between the languages as mutually reinforcing (thus, constructing the semantics of unity) or mutually excluding (thus, constructing the semantics of opposition).