sociolinguistics michael g smith language power creation ussr 1917 1953 1998 23 x 15 5 cm vii 294 pages cloth dm 178 approx us 111 00 isbn 311 016197 4 contributions sociology language 80 mouton de gruyter berlin new york first comprehensive history language planning ussr covering formative period lenin stalin based party state archival materials recently made available explores tension linguistic russification nativization soviet experience author argues moment greatest victory russian revolution difficult days reconstruction world war ii government locked hegemonic imperative required measure dependence upon rural russians peripheral non russian peoples much domination language issues help understand soviet state structure machine centrifugal well centripetal force prove point author examines unprecedented initiatives simplification russian spelling system latinization arabic alphabets muslim peoples reform school grammars teaching curriculums also offers new interpretations various linguistic trends informed projects g g shpet remarkable structural phenomenology n ia marr marxist school linguistics stalin infamous linguistic essay 1950 reveals communist party micromanaged language reform muslim central asia dealt decades failure rates countrywide russian language examinations result original reading sociolinguistics soviet history weaving together scientific contributions linguists political imperatives partystate everyday responses various social ethnic groups _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ mouton de gruyter walter de gruyter inc postfach 30 34 21 200 saw mill river road d10728 berlin hawthorne ny 10532 germany usa fax 49 0 30 26005351 fax 1 914 7471326 email mouton degruyter de publications de gruyter also ordered via world wide web http www degruyter com