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The Moldovan Linguistic Question

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The Moldovan Linguistic Question The Moldovan linguistic question Language and identity in a post-Soviet state that is balancing between East and West Master Thesis – Final Version L.M.C. Sengers MA Literature and Culture: Slavonic September 17, 2014 University of Amsterdam Supervisor: A. J. Drace-Francis Contents Introduction 4 CHAPTER 1: Language and identity policies in Moldova’s recent history 8 1.1 Brief history of Moldova before 1940 8 1.1.1 Bessarabia (1812-1917) 9 1.1.2 Greater Romania and the MASSR (1917-1940) 9 1.2 From an imposed identity too an identity crisis 11 1.2.1 The Soviet Era (1940-1991) 11 1.2.2 Independent Moldova (from 1991) 14 1.3 The significant other: identity versus language and power 17 1.4 Moldovans about their language and identity 19 1.4.1 Ciscel’s study 19 1.4.2 Surveys 20 CHAPTER 2: Present Moldova: demography, language, policies and problems 23 2.1 Demography and language statistics 23 2.1.1 Demography 23 2.1.2 Language 25 2.2 Language legislation, policies and politics 27 2.2.1 Language rights and legislation 27 2.2.2 The official state language: Moldovan or Romanian? 28 2.2.3 Language and education policies 29 2.2.4 Language attitutes in politics 31 2.2.5 Language bill of May 2013 32 2.3 Linguistic problems 33 2.3.1 The Russian language in Moldova 33 2.3.2 Recent incidents 34 2.4 “Moldovan linguist conflict”? 35 CHAPTER 3: The special case of Transnistria 37 3.1 Language laws leading to civil war 38 3.2 Transnistria between and Russia 39 3.2.1 The relation with Russia 40 3.2.2 The relation with Moldova 41 3.3 Problems of language education 42 3.4 The creation of a national Transnistrian identity 46 Conclusion 48 2 Bibliography 50 Attachments 56 Attachment I: English survey and results 56 Attachment II: Russian survey and results 59 Attachment III: English translation of Russian survey and results 85 3 Introduction The Republic of Moldova is a land-locked country which used to be part of the Soviet Union. The biggest part of the territory lies between two rivers: the Prut River on the western border with Romania and the Nistru River on the eastern border with Ukraine. Moldova has a Romanian- speaking majority and a sizeable urban Russian minority. The country is divided: one could say that there are actually three Moldova’s: the districts of Moldova and the autonomous regions of Gagauzia and Transnistria (also called Pridnestrovie or Dnestr Region), the latter being a small, unrecognized autonomous republic that still operates according to the Soviet model. Since its independence in 1991, the Republic of Moldova has struggled to maintain an uncertain balance between European aspirations and traditional ties with Eurasian countries. The existence of two breakaway regions has made this balancing act even more difficult. Besides that, the impoverished, largely agricultural Moldovan economy is the poorest in Europe. Also, the Moldovan identity is more contentious and less well-established: many Moldovans consider themselves and their language to be Romanian. In summary, the instability, poverty and identity crisis undermine this independent country that has emerged from totalitarian communism only two decades ago. After an impasse of over two years, Nicolae Timofti was elected president of Moldova in March 2012. Since May 2013, the Pro-European Coalition has been the ruling coalition. Iurie Leancă (Liberal Democratic Party) is the current Prime Minister. At the moment, his government is eager to integrate into Europe. In June 2014, it signed the Association Agreement with the EU, which means a closer political and economic relation between both According to countless stickers in Bucharest, ‘Bessarabia is Romania !’ (photo from own collection) parties. The most important part is the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, which will create more possibilities for trade and economic growth. Also, from April 28th 2014, Moldovans with a biometric passport are able to travel visa-free to the EU-countries. The parliamentary elections on November 30, 2014, however, are very important for Moldova’s EU-integration. According to recent polls, the Communist Party is in a winning position: about 42% of the voters would vote for it.1 If the Communists win and a less pro-EU coalition will be formed, the European path is not so obvious anymore. Besides, the current problems in neighbouring country Ukraine complicate Moldova’s European aspirations. The annexation of the Crimea by Russia and the unrest among the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine are important in this context: many fear that similar events will happen in the breakaway regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia and that President Putin will focus his attention on these regions after the Crimea-crisis. Especially Transnistria impedes the process of European integration: although 1 Allmoldova.org: If elections were held next Sunday, five parties would enter Parliament (21-05-2014) http://www.allmoldova.com/en/moldova-news/1249058238.html 4 the region has all the features of a ‘real’ country (government, currency, flag), it is not recognized by any country in the world. Transnistria itself has already made its choice: on March 18th and April 16th this year, pro-Russian politicians and activists requested the Russian parliament to adjust a law through which adding their territory to Russia could happen in a legal way. The past year, I was able to visit this fascinating country: in 2013, while travelling through Russia and Ukraine, I made a side trip to Moldova’s capital Chişinău. On the train from Odessa to Chişinău, I met an old lady travelling on her own back home after vacation and I spoke with her for a while in Russian. Although she was born and raised in Moldova (back then part of the Soviet Union), she never learnt to speak Romanian, but nevertheless did consider herself to be ‘Moldovan’: “Я молдованка”, she firmly said, meaning ‘I am a Moldovan woman’. In March 2014, during my internship at the Netherlands Embassy to Romania and Moldova in Bucharest, I had the chance to join my colleagues on a diplomatic mission to Chişinău and Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria. Moldova appeared to me as a country that is difficult to define. What is Moldova exactly? Is it Romanian, is it Russian, is it a mixture between both? Or is it something completely on its own, ‘Moldovan’? What struck me most was the seemingly effortless existence of both the Romanian and Russian language in public areas. While I could hear most people in the streets speaking Romanian, it was no problem to make myself clear in Russian. The case was very different in Tiraspol, where all the signs and banners were in Russian and the sound of Romanian was rarely heard. These visits stirred up my interest for Moldova but raised many questions at the same time. What is exactly the Moldovan linguistic situation? Is there a ‘linguistic conflict’? If yes: how does this conflict affect the daily life of the inhabitants of the country? What was and is Russia’s role in this small country? Is there a ‘Moldovan’ identity? And, considering the European aspirations, the events in Ukraine and Putin’s recent policies, what do these language and identity questions mean in the Statements like these are easy to spot on walls in present geopolitical context? In this Master thesis, I will Chişinău: “I am Moldovan! I speak the Moldovan try to answer these questions. language!” (Source: Chişinău, Seriously?) This thesis will start with the language and identity policies in Moldova’s recent history. Besides the economic crisis, the national identity crisis (Moldovan, Romanian or Russian?) is one of the main crises in Moldova today. According to some scholars, the identity crisis is even the most important hindrance for democracy.2 The Soviet policy of nation-building will be explained, a concept that was necessary in the evolution of the Moldovan identity and language, in order to separate the Moldovan identity from the Romanian one. Language and symbols were very important in this policy. Furthermore, Jenkins’s theoretical concepts of similarity versus difference and asymmetrical power relations are relevant. 2 Loredana M. Simionov, ‘How did language in Moldova lead to an identity crisis instead of establishing an identity?’ (2012), 1. 5 In the second chapter, the current situation will be described: the minorities, the language policies and the linguistic problems in Moldova of today. At the end of this chapter, I will discuss whether the linguistic situation could be called a ‘conflict’. A well-known linguistic conflict is the Belgian conlict, studied by Kenneth D. McRae3 among others: in Belgium, the language question began shortly after the beginning of the country’s existence in 1830, due to the Francization and the subsequent Flemish movement against this development. The linguistic conflict even led to the federalisation of Belgium: in 1963, an official language border was established between the Dutch- speaking northern region Flanders and the French-speaking southern part Wallonia. In the 1950s and 1960s, phenomena like language contact, language dominance and language conflict became more and more explored by linguists. Uriel Weinreich’s Languages in contact (1953) formed the fundamental basis for studies of multilingual communities. Einar Haugen introduced his ideas on language planning and the ecology of language in Language conflict and language planning: the case of modern Norwegian (1966). In the 1980s sociologists, political scientists (e.g. McRae) and linguists (e.g. Peter Nelde) followed their example. According to Nelde, a language often develops into a symbol of social conflict in minority settings, even when it is not the direct cause of the conflict.
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