Urbanization in a low key and linguistic change in Soviet Moldavia, part 1

Abstract

IN the context of a modernizing economy the people of Soviet Moldavia have been experiencing increased geographic dislocation and mobility. These are associated with a high rate of urbanization. We have described the 'urban' environments and the processes by which people come to them. What is the impact of this mobilization in cultural and national terms? Are Moldavians becoming Russians by virtue of their increased urbanization? In the period under Russian imperial rule, and in the interwar period as part of Greater Romania, the towns of Bessarabia were decidedly stamped with the Russian language and culture. To be urban was the practical equivalent of being Russian. It is only in the Soviet period that native Moldavians' have been reclaiming the urban areas by their massive influx into old towns, and by putting new towns on the mapthrough reclassification. Yet the question remains: Are Moldavians reclaiming the urban areas in linguistic and cultural terms as well, or is urbanization causing them to assimilate to Russian language and culture, to such an extent that in national terms they are at the same time both 'winning' and 'losing' the urban centres? The answer to this problem should come from an examination of urban cultural institutions and of the cultural and linguistic habits of individuals. But, since Soviet sources are generally poor on the language of cultural institutions such as schools, our analysis is based mostly on the statistical data available on first and second language mastery.2