Indigenous language education in Russia: current issues and challenges

Abstract

Despite the high number of recognised Indigenous groups who are struggling to maintain their languages, cultures, and identities in Russia, there is little research done on the matters of cultural and linguistic revitalisation. This study sought to address this gap by exploring the views of two Indigenous groups, Karelian and Mari, on the development of their Indigenous languages and educational strategies to protect and revive their languages. The study relied on in-depth one-on-one interviews with 20 participants, ten from each Indigenous group. The findings show that despite older generations' relative proficiency and interest in their respective Indigenous languages, motivation to master them is fading among younger Indigenous populations. There is also a lack of opportunities to learn the languages including informal settings despite protections within the federal legal system. The participants identified three reasons for the rapid decrease of language speakers that include assimilation of the Indigenous groups, differences in rural and urban development, and globalization. The article concludes with recommendations on how to revitalise Indigenous languages in Russia.

Hesitant versus confident family language policy: a case of two single-parent families in Finland

“…Maria considered Russian as a more practical language than Mari to pass over to her son. This decision was also connected with the fact that Maria was gradually losing her skills in Mari, as her parents passed away a long time ago and like the Mari people she too switched to Russian, a switch unfortunately all too common nowadays for indigenous people in Russia (see e.g., Semenova, Khanolainen and Nesterova [2021]). Maria sees Russian as an important language for Oscar's future, adding that she would like him to have Russian-speaking friends to support his Russian.…”

“Maybe it was a shield, you know”: Exploring family language policy through the lens of perezhivanie

“…The developmental trajectory of Irina's linguistic repertoire has probably been subjected to the conditions of linguistic imperialism, first in the Soviet Union and later in Russia, where minority languages and official languages of the republics were and still are marginalised (e.g.,Semenova et al, 2021).…”