Taking the Russia out of the Soviet

Nation Building through Federal Language Laws in Post-Soviet Latvia

Abstract

This project asks how Latvian language laws have changed since Latvia gained independence in 1991. Previous research examines how and where language appears, if and how countries follow language laws, and how speakers of language feel about speakers of other languages; this research expands to the types of language laws countries pass, in what sectors, and touches on the motivations behind passing and increasing number of language laws. This research relies on Cultural Constructivism Theory to define how the government of Latvia intentionally constructs national identity and regulates how residents of the country may use language (language being inherently tied to culture). This project looks at publicly available, state-translated laws from the website likumi.lv to find legal efforts to regulate language use between the years of 1991 and 2024. The laws span various socio-political sectors: “Administrative Procedure; Administrative Offense Proceedings; Civil Law”; “Education, Science, Sport”; “Constitutional Law; State Language, State Symbols”; “Media, Advertising”; “Citizenship, Migration”; “Religion, Church”; “Transportation, Communication.” This project finds laws from the sector “Education, Science, Sport” most commonly influence language use, specifically in the years 2018 and 2022. Discussing the implications of expanding language landscape research into the motivation of nation building, countries should consider how language use can shape culture and construct the idea of a national identity, reflecting growing trends of nationalism across the globe.