SUMMARY:

This essay introduces an upcoming edited volume Decentralized Variants of Russian and Their Speakers: World Russians, which reimagines the Russian language as a decentered and pluralistic global phenomenon rather than a single, state-controlled monolith. By adopting the innovative framework of “World Russians,” the authors challenge the traditional monocentric perspective long maintained by Moscow and shift the focus toward how the language is actually used by diverse communities across the globe. Rejecting the political ideology of the “Russian World,” the authors explore how local identities, migration, and language contact shape unique linguistic varieties in places like Kazakhstan, Estonia, and South Korea. They call for prioritizing bottom-up, grassroots practices over rigid metropolitan norms, viewing the evolution of Russian as an ongoing process driven by the agency and creativity of its speakers worldwide.