The role of the Russian language in life Caucasian emigrants IN Europe (1920-2020)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the role of the Russian language in the life of Caucasian emigrants in Europe in different historical periods of the 20th – early 21st centuries. In the 1920-1930s. there were two political camps of Caucasian migrants. Each camp had its own type of attitude to the Russian language and the nature of its use. The article was prepared on the basis of the author’s previous works and new field ethnographic materials collected in France and Switzerland among Caucasians. In the 1990-2000s. new Caucasian emigrants came to Europe with knowledge of the Russian language. Among the next generation the Russian language is gradually disappearing. The author concludes that the Russian language, under all complex, sometimes contradictory, circumstances, sometimes directed against the language itself, has always retained in the past and retains its niche in emigrant Caucasian life at the present time.