Communication or Representation? Linguistic Policies in Polish, Czech, and Ukrainian Science in the Late Nineteenth Century

The 19th century, after the period of radical nationalisation of scientific communication, hosted the reflection on the outcome of this process. Especially in Eastern Europe the growing internationalisation was met both with hope and distrust. While the need for staging the scientific developments within international forums was acknowledged at the time, this recognition should not outweigh the commitments to popularisation of science in national tongues. What is more, writing in foreign languages was complicated by the political relevance/importance/implication of this act and researchers were reminded that their primary goal remained to serve the nation. In this regard a variety of projects was proposed, ranging from pan-Slavic congresses to sections of academies concerned with international issues. In the „soft-colonial“ setting, the tension between national disciplinisation and scientific dissemination differed as to the political situation and academic and disciplinary loyalties. Czech emancipation from germanophonie, Polish national unification across imperial boundaries, and Ukrainian liberation from Polish and Russian influences manifest though through similar developments in scientific communication and its discursive field. The acknowledgment of national languages as enhancing scientific productivity goes here hand in hand with the limitations of these languages’ communicational value, which was seen as vital for cultural prestige. While the debates are concerned mostly with language, they include also a deeper re-evaluation of the significance of scientific research in genere, where the international orientation slowly outweighs the regional community with its own agendas and practices.