62 Francesca Biagini Abstract Changes and Developments in the Linguistic Landscape of Francesca Biagini Present-Day Crimea The Expression of Factual Concessive Relation in Italian and Russian Paola Bocale The aim of this paper is to identify and compare the means of expression of factual concessive relation in Italian and Russian on the basis of a bidirectional paral- lel corpus. Factual concessive relation, as a consistent and shared relational concept which can be defined independently of its linguistic expression, can be used as a ter- tium comparationis. Some differences in terminology in Russian and Italian research literature on the 1. Introduction topic shall be considered before starting data analysis. The content of factual conces- sive relation is subsequently defined in order to find and describe its forms of expres- sion in the two languages. This paper aims at providing a snapshot of language use and attitudes in The study of the expression of purposive interclausal relation revealed that loose Crimea at two different points in time. Until March 2014, when Crimea joined coordination prevails in Russian while tighter subordination dominates in Italian (Biagini the Russian Federation following a referendum, which was declared invalid by 2012). For this reason, the paper aimed to determine whether Russian and Italian show Ukraine, the EU and the UN, the linguistic landscape of the peninsula was dis- different preferences in the forms they choose for the expression of concessive relation. tinguished by three main features: a) the predominance of Russian linked to the In the aforementioned case, the results do not confirm a predominance of jux- ethnic composition of the population and as a consequence of the Soviet policy taposition or coordination in Russian when compared with Italian. Differences in the of assimilation; b) the expanding functioning of Ukrainian, the state language, patterns of equilibrium between inference and coding strategies in the two languages as the language of instruction and documentation in educational institutions and were not highlighted either. It would be useful to verify these results on a larger paral- public offices and c) the revitalization of the community languages of formerly lel corpus. This would also make it possible to point out the functional equivalence of deported peoples and other minorities, who were struggling to reaffirm their some means of expression in Russian and Italian. ethnic and cultural identities (Bocale 2015). For the purpose of this study, language policy is understood as a set of laws, regulations, norms and practices that operate to produce planned language change in a given society (Kaplan, Baldauf 1997: xi). Language policies may be devel- oped and implemented at different levels, from official, institutional legislation and rules to informal communication and discourse circulating in public spaces. On the basis of the analysis of official documents on language policy and language planning and of media texts and ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Crimea, this work aims to provide an account of the complex linguistic situation of this ethni- cally heterogeneous region as it has taken shape in the last few years. 2. Crimea A relatively small peninsula sticking out into the Black Sea, Crimea has been, since ancient times, a steppingstone for human crossing and an important military and trading centre in the area. Crimea’s multiethnic map was drawn re- peatedly in the context of colonial settlement and targeted state policies. It was radically transformed by the Soviet policy of violent forced mass deportation and resettlement, affecting, above all, the Crimean Tatars, as well as the Arme- nians, Bulgarians, Germans, Greeks, Jews, Italians and other smaller minorities, all based in the region. FUP Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (DOI 10.36253/fup_best_practice) LePaola lingue Bocale, slave “Changes tra struttura and e Developments uso, a cura di inValentina the Linguistic Benigni, Landscape Lucyna Gebert,of Present-Day Julija Nikolaeva Crimea”, pp., ISBN 63-77, 978- © 88-6453-328-52016 Author(s), CC (online), BY 4.0 International,ISBN 978-88-6453-327-8 DOI 10.36253/978-88-6453-328-5.04 (print), CC BY 4.0, 2016 Firenze University Press 64 Paola Bocale Changes and Developments in the Linguistic Landscape 65 In March 2014, Crimea was the only region within Ukraine with an ethnic After the demise of the USSR and the establishment of independent Ukraine, Russian majority. According to the 2001 census, the population of Crimea is the Ukrainian government encountered difficulties in imposing Ukrainian as the 2,033,700 of which 58.5% are Russians, 24.4% Ukrainians, 12.1% Crimean Ta- state language in Crimea’s predominantly Russian-speaking environment (Ueh- tars and 1.5% Belarusians (CENS)1. The remaining 3.5% is split between many ling 2004). There was a significant gap between the number of Russian-track different ethnicities, including Armenians, Jews, Bulgarians, Germans, Greeks, schools (359) and the number of Ukrainian-track schools (7) in Crimea in the Siberian and Volga Tatars, Karaims, Krymchaks and Italians. The high percent- school year 2013–2014 (MIN)3. age of ethnic Russians in Crimea is accounted for by the fact that the peninsula Both before and after Crimea’s incorporation into Russia, all communities was transferred from the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian of formerly deported peoples have been actively involved in promoting and SSR only in 1954 (Sasse 2007). reviving their languages and cultures. The well-organized and vocal Crimean Crimea’s ethnic heterogeneity is not reflected in an equivalent plurality of Tatar community, which is numerically the most important minority among the languages. In its early years, the Soviet Union “developed an exemplary pol- formerly deported peoples, holds events throughout the peninsula to promote icy of language rights for minorities” (Spolsky 2009: 216). Lenin maintained the Crimean Tatar language and culture. The Gaspirinsky Crimean Tatar Li- that no language should be given the status of a state language and that all na- brary, the Crimean Tatar Art Museum and the Crimean Tatar Drama Theatre tionalities and cultures should be promoted in order for them to merge into a in Simferopol’ act as focal points for cultural activities. There is a great deal of single Soviet socialist state. The Soviet Constitutions did not define the status concern among members of the community about the status of Crimean Tatar of the Russian language and guaranteed Soviet citizens education in their na- and the need to maintain and strengthen the language. Private individuals and tive language (Grenoble 2003: 36). On the level of nationalities policy, this was NGOs try to fill the gap in state funding for minority language schools by seek- reflected in the ‘korenizacija’ (nativization, indigenization) programme, which ing alternative ways of financing classes in Crimean Tatar. aimed to support and develop cultural, political and economic elites among the Numerically smaller minority communities also have their own organiza- ethnic communities. However, with Stalin’s accession to power, and particularly tions, which run language classes and hold cultural events. In Kerč, the state from the early 1930’s, the policy of korenizacija was abandoned and there was a funded House of the Nationalities hosts the representative offices of the Ger- growing movement towards Russification, which resulted in Russian gradually man, Italian, Polish and Greek community associations. The German, Italian imposing itself as a lingua franca throughout the USSR, including in Crimea, and Polish associations offer language courses while the Greek association has often at the expense of local minority languages. established a folk music ensemble that performs nationally and internationally. As a result of the Soviet assimilationist language policies, in Crimea Rus- The Kerč Jewish community centre “Gesher” has a weekend school attended by sian is spoken by 97% of the population (Charnysh 2013), and 76% of the popu- about 40 students every year. Similar cultural community centres exist through- lation considers Russian to be their native language (Pylypenko 2004). Due to out Crimea and offer minority language courses to members of their communi- weak intergenerational language transmission in exile, formerly deported peo- ties (Izmirli 2012; OSCE13). ples returning to the peninsula are overwhelmingly Russian speakers (Izmirli 2012). Although 92 per cent of Crimean Tatars declare Crimean Tatar their na- tive language in censuses and sociological surveys, the percentage of those who can speak the language is very low, with the vast majority knowing only a few 3. Language Policy in the Russian Federation expressions, such as greetings and family names. Even as of March 2014, Russian was the primary language of communication The language policy of the Russian Federation is articulated in a number of in Crimean public institutions, education and business, and the informational space different documents, the most relevant of which are the Constitution, the Law functioned predominantly in Russian and Ukrainian. Non-Russian print media ac- on the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation, the Law on the State counted for only five per cent of the total print circulation in the peninsula, and, on Language of the Russian Federation, and the Law on Education in the Russian public television, communities of formerly deported peoples2 were allocated a mere Federation. Some of the main points in these documents which are relevant to 13-minute time slot weekly to broadcast in the community language (OSCE13). this investigation will be briefly highlighted below. According to the 1993 constitution (K93), the Russian Federation is a multi- ethnic state where all nationalities have equal recognition, status and support of 1 Data by the Ukrainian national statistical authorities report a decrease in the pop- ulation of Crimea of 3.3% in the years 2001–2014 (1,967,259 inhabitants at 1st January 2014). <www.ukrstat.gov.ua/druk/publicat/kat_u/2014/zb/06/zb_nas_13.zip> (09/14).