Ecology of Language in the Baltic Countries: A View of Chinese Specialists in Russian Studies

At present, the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) have history-based complicated relationships with Russia. This is reflected in many significant spheres, and specifically in language policy. On the basis of observations of the peculiarities of language policy in the Baltic states, the article analyzes the state of language ecology (i.e. how language diversity is preserved) of these countries, including the specificity of the social position of the Russian language. The article characterizes the main periods of various kinds of language policy in the region under consideration during the 20th century: strict Russification during the period of the Russian Empire and the following short-time liberalization; adoption of the high-est legal status of the national languages during independence; Russification during the first stage of Soviet power - from 1940 to 1941; bilingualism up to the time of the Soviet Union disintegration, preferential use of the Russian language in many spheres of activity; proclamation of the national languages as only state languages in the course of formation of the modern sovereign states.В статье рассматривается состояние языковой экологии в странах Балтии, в том числе специфика социального положения русского языка