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Minority identity and identity maintenance in Georgia

Kock-Kobaidze, Manana LU (1999) In Working Papers, Lund University, Dept. of Linguistics 47.
Abstract
With its long history of about three thousand years of statehood and with its geographic situation in the Caucasus, at the cross-roads of the Christian and Muslim worlds, Georgia represents an interesting picture in terms of linguistic (and not only linguistic) diversity. During the Soviet period and even since the Russian expansion in Georgia (19th century), minority and majority languages and identities formed a complicated hierarchy in Georgia. Changes during the post-Soviet period have been reflected on this hierarchy. The official status of the languages has not changed but different intragroup and intergroup attitudes have emerged. This article is an attempt to present a general review of these processes. The hierarchy of minorities... (More)
With its long history of about three thousand years of statehood and with its geographic situation in the Caucasus, at the cross-roads of the Christian and Muslim worlds, Georgia represents an interesting picture in terms of linguistic (and not only linguistic) diversity. During the Soviet period and even since the Russian expansion in Georgia (19th century), minority and majority languages and identities formed a complicated hierarchy in Georgia. Changes during the post-Soviet period have been reflected on this hierarchy. The official status of the languages has not changed but different intragroup and intergroup attitudes have emerged. This article is an attempt to present a general review of these processes. The hierarchy of minorities from the demographic point of view is discussed in section 1. Section 2 deals with the hierarchy of languages in Georgia, and section 3 discusses the ambiguity of this hierarchy. In sections 4 and 5, the means of creating of a new Soviet identity connected with the script, name-giving and mother tongue are briefly discussed. The paper regards language as a social characteristic (de Vries 1992:211). (Less)
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organization
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type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
in
Working Papers, Lund University, Dept. of Linguistics
volume
47
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b688b297-d9ab-4a3e-8db8-5ba1b221bc2d (old id 528721)
alternative location
http://www.ling.lu.se/disseminations/pdf/47/KockKobaidze.pdf
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 13:12:11
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:12:39
@misc{b688b297-d9ab-4a3e-8db8-5ba1b221bc2d,
  abstract     = {{With its long history of about three thousand years of statehood and with its geographic situation in the Caucasus, at the cross-roads of the Christian and Muslim worlds, Georgia represents an interesting picture in terms of linguistic (and not only linguistic) diversity. During the Soviet period and even since the Russian expansion in Georgia (19th century), minority and majority languages and identities formed a complicated hierarchy in Georgia. Changes during the post-Soviet period have been reflected on this hierarchy. The official status of the languages has not changed but different intragroup and intergroup attitudes have emerged. This article is an attempt to present a general review of these processes. The hierarchy of minorities from the demographic point of view is discussed in section 1. Section 2 deals with the hierarchy of languages in Georgia, and section 3 discusses the ambiguity of this hierarchy. In sections 4 and 5, the means of creating of a new Soviet identity connected with the script, name-giving and mother tongue are briefly discussed. The paper regards language as a social characteristic (de Vries 1992:211).}},
  author       = {{Kock-Kobaidze, Manana}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  series       = {{Working Papers, Lund University, Dept. of Linguistics}},
  title        = {{Minority identity and identity maintenance in Georgia}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/6069812/624453.pdf}},
  volume       = {{47}},
  year         = {{1999}},
}