Languages of the Soviet Union

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Languages of the Soviet Union were defined as languages natively spoken in the Soviet Union which weren't the official languages of another state.

The USSR was a multilingual state, with over 120 languages spoken natively. Although discrimination of the basis of language was illegal under the Soviet Constitution, the status of all these languages was far from being the same.

Although the USSR hadn't de jure an official language, and Russian was merely defined as the language of interethnical communication (Russian: язык межнационального общения), it assumed de facto the role of official language. For its role and influence in the USSR, see Russification.

On a second level were the languages of the other 14 Union Republics. Keeping in line with their de jure status in a federal state, they had a small formal role at the Union level (being e.g. present in the Coat of arms of the USSR and its banknotes) and as the main language of its republic. Their effective weight, however, varied with the republic (from strong in places like the Armenian SSR to weak in places like the Byelorussian SSR), or even inside it.

Of these fourteen languages, three are often considered dialects of other language (Azerbaijani from Turkish, Tajik from Persian, and Moldovan, seen almost universally as no different from Romanian). The compulsory use of the Cyrillic alphabet, however, combined the lack of contact, led to the separate development of the literary languages. Some of the former Soviet republics, now independent states, continue to use Cyrillic alphabet at present (such as Kyrgizia), while others have opted to use Latin alphabet instead (such as Turkmenistan) or are actively attempting to adopt Latin alphabet (Moldova, where the official switch to Latin met with strong controversy and contributed to War of Transnistria; the unrecognized Transnistria officially uses Cyrillic alphabet).

The Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union and other subdivision of the USSR lacked even this de jure autonomy, and their languages had virtually no presence at the national level (and often, not even in the urban areas of the republic itself). They were, however, present in education (although often only at lower grades).

Some smaller languages with very dwindling small communities, like Livonian, were neglected, and weren't present either in education or in publishing.

Finally, several languages, like German, Korean or Polish, although having sizable communities in the USSR, and in some cases being present in education and in publishing, weren't considered as Soviet language, since they were official languages of other states.

Particular cases are:

Finnish: although not generally considered a language of the USSR, since it was an official language of Finland, it was an official language of the Karelian ASSR and its predecessor, the Karelo-Finnish SSR.
Yiddish and Romany: although having the bulk of their speakers outside the USSR, they were considered Soviet languages, since they weren't official languages of another state.