Soviet language policy in Georgian culture

In the 20th century, after Sovietization in 1921, an aggressive Russification language policy was carried out in Georgia, leading to the dominance of the Russian language (Lewis, 2019; Grenoble, 2003; Comrie, 1981). Cultural pluralism, which influenced language policy, was divided into two main forces: a centripetal force urging people to assimilate the Russian language and culture, and a centrifugal force striving to preserve native languages and cultures and fighting for separation (Marshall, 1992; Young, 1976; Kreindler, 1985). The political and public figures of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia, who were forced into exile, played a significant role in the preservation of the Georgian language and culture. They founded the Georgian press, which expressed strong Soviet protest against the Russian Soviet regime. The present paper aims to study the problems of Soviet language policy in Georgian culture. The digital corpus of the Georgian émigré press from the period between the 1920s and 1930s is used as empirical data. The results of the study reveal the threats posed by the language policy, as documented in the Georgian émigré periodicals, and the pressure experienced by the Georgian language and cultural fields during the Soviet era.