Struggle for the Latvian State Language

Abstract

For Latvia, which restored its independence in 1991, language policy has been a matter of paramount importance for historical reasons. The basic pillars of the current language regulation are the Constitution and the State Language Law, but many sectoral laws also contain provisions, especially in the fields of citizenship, education, media or name use. The primary goal of the legislator has been to change the linguistic landscape of Latvia, which shifted towards unbalanced, Russian-dominated bilingualism during the decades of the Soviet occupation, in a way that ensures the dominance of the Latvian language and pushesnot the Latvian majority but the national minorities towards bilingualism. The first State Language Law of 1989, passed before the restoration of the independence, was based on the Latvian-Russian bilingualism of the state, in which residents would have had the right to decide in which language they would address institutions. However, after the restoration of the independence, but before the law entered into full force in 1992, the legislator amended the regulation in a way that declared Latvian the exclusive official language. The 1998 constitutional amendments and the new 1999 State Language Law completely prohibited the use of languages other than Latvian not only within public institutions, but also in the communication between residents and public institutions – except for a few enlisted, primarily emergency situations – and significantly restricted the free language use in the private sphere. Despite this, the legislator’s goal of ensuring the dominance of the Latvian language has still not been fully achieved, leading to continued legislation on sectoral restrictions in recent decades, criticized by those concerned in Latvia and international forums protecting minority rights.