War, language removal and self-identification in the linguistic landscapes of Nagorno-Karabakh

Abstract

The disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) resulted in demographic shifts and drew new boundaries in a once borderless region. The South Caucasus, an area that has been characterized by its linguistic diversity witnessed one of the most destructive interethnic wars in the former USSR. Fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, it resulted in the removal of the Azerbaijani population. Two decades later the political status of the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic remains unresolved, but apparently a new linguistic self-identity of the population takes shape. While possibilities for extensive sociolinguistic research are limited, linguistic landscape research provides insights into patterns of individual and public language use. This paper analyzes the linguistic landscapes of Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, and establishes functional domains of the languages visible. Furthermore, it traces remnants of an Azerbaijani linguistic landscape in abandoned settlements and documents patterns of language use in rural parts of the territory. The demographic situation suggests a majority of Armenians, yet the results point toward a bilingual situation with Russian as a language of wider communication. On the other hand, the study shows the link between the removal of Azerbaijani from the public sphere and the eradication of Azerbaijani culture.

Keywords:

• Nagorno-Karabakh
• multilingualism
• linguistic landscapes
• language removal

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my thanks to Ani and her family for providing translations, interpretations as well as insights into the particularities of the Armenian language. I also express my gratitude to Fayk for translating Azerbaijani texts into Russian. I also thank Kristin for her valuable help while conducting fieldwork in Nagorno-Karabakh, Aneta Pavlenko from Temple University/Philadelphia for her insightful comments and interpretations and four anonymous reviewers for their detailed and helpful remarks.

Notes

† Paper presented at the ASN World Convention. Columbia University, 18–20 April 2013.

1 The term Karabakh relates to the greater historic region, while Nagorno-Karabakh denotes the political entity established in 1923.

2 In 1988, the cities of Sumgait and Kirovabad (Az. Gəncə) witnessed deadly pogroms against the Armenian minority population, while in 1990 a pogrom targeted the Armenians of Baku.

3 First language/mother tongue.

4 While this mirrors the special status of the NKAO within the Azerbaijani SSR, the conflicting political situation at the end of the 1980s might have influenced respondents' claims about language proficiency to a certain extent.

5 The area of research encompasses an area ranging from the GPS coordinates 39.818013,46.753281 to 39.822636, 46.761308.

6 I would like to express my gratitude to an undisclosed member of the Fedayin Media Group who provided a personal interpretation of the billboard.

7 Artsakh is the Armenian name of the historical region of Nagorno-Karabakh.