Republic of Moldova: between Harmonious Bilingualism and Linguistic Conflict Cover Image

Republica Moldova: între bilingvism armonios și conflict lingvistic
Republic of Moldova: between Harmonious Bilingualism and Linguistic Conflict

Author(s): Ana Bulibaș-Botez
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Sociology of Culture
Published by: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti
Keywords: sociolinguistics; bilingualism; diglossia; language; conflict; Republic of Moldova;

Summary/Abstract: The rapid growth of cultural and linguistic diversity in modern societies has increased the interest of researchers in different fields in the phenomenon of bilingualism, which can be analyzed from several perspectives, depending on the benchmark: the individual or society. Bilingualism manifested at the individual level in countries such as the Republic of Moldova cannot be analyzed without taking into account the political, historical and social events in the region. Therefore, the sociolinguistic perspective is the one presented in this paper. The harmonious bilingualism formalized by the USSR and promoted even in the MSSR was partial and asymmetrical in nature, with all the characteristics of a situation of diglossia and favoring the emergence of linguistic conflict. As a result, we will discuss the evolution of bilingualism in Bessarabia, the MSSR and the Republic of Moldova manifested at the collective level and the way in which the sociological approach demonstrates the obligatory presence of the functional and status hierarchy of languages in contact and the impossibility of achieving balance.

  • Issue Year: 13/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 87-94
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Romanian