The Soviet Language Workshop (1930–1939): The Struggle for Tools, Principles and Approaches 1

The article discusses the development of Soviet linguistics during the 1930s and analyses the extent to which it was shaped by the socio-political climate of the time. Particular attention is paid to the government's call for language standardization in the 1930s and the way theoretical and applied linguistics responded to the challenge. It is argued that the intense research which was carried out in the area of language planning as a result could be partially responsible for the significant Soviet contribution to the further development of post-Saussurian structuralism and the functional grammar theory.