Arutyunova E.M. Language situation in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the context of language contradictions in school education. INAB. 2019. No. 1. Inter-ethnic relations in the republics of the Russian Federation: the example of Tatarstan and Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. P. 50-61.

Текст статьи/выпуска.

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the language situation in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the context of the ethno-linguistic conflict, the active phase of which unfolded in 2017-2018. The historical and demographic contexts of the current situation are shown in the article. This situation was influenced by the rise of the ethnic identity of Sakha in the early 1990s, as well as changes in the ethnodemographic composition of the Republic. The article concluded that the Sakha language has a high degree of preservation and its significant symbolic value, which is important in a globalizing space from the point of view of preserving the linguistic diversity of Russia. This conclusion is made on the basis of data on high proportions of Yakuts who are fluent in the Sakha language, who call this language their native language, and who want their children and grandchildren to speak it. The author analyzes the attitudes to voluntary learning of the Sakha language by all schoolchildren of the Republic, and reveals differences in the opinions of Sakha and Yakut people of other nationalities. A fairly high proportion of Sakha people who advocate compulsory language can be not only a situational reaction to the language crisis in education, to the alarmist discourse of language activists, but also an indicator of the perception of the proper status of their own language as a state language.