Between Linguistics and Ideology: Lev Iakubinskii on Social Dialects

Abstract One of the central points of the sociolinguistic conception of Lev Iakubinskii (1892–1945) became the thesis about the differentiation of language in accordance with the social structure of society, leading to the formation of class dialects. The basic ideas of this conception were formulated by Iakubinskii in a series of articles published in the journal “Literary Studies” in 1930–1931 and in the collection “Essays on Language” (1932). In these works, Iakubinskii considers language as a heterogeneous formation, consisting of the languages of certain class groups (the language of the peasantry, the language of the proletariat, etc.), and also addresses the question of the formation of a united national language. The present article examines the origins and components of Iakubinskii’s sociolinguistic conception and considers to what extent his engagement with this topic was influenced by the complex political and ideological context of the early Soviet period.