What a revealing and beautifully written essay. It did occur to me while reading that a Russian woman I met used to go on and on about how Russia insisted on all of its citizens speaking Russian correctly. She said there were no "accents" coming from different regions of that vast country because every Russian kid was taught correct pronunciation and so dialects were gotten rid of, and everyone spoke with the same pronunciation.

So, aside from the history and violence behind these societal pieces, is this an education issue as well?

Just wondering. Great piece of writing here.