Changing Attitudes Toward Indigenous1 Languages in Russia: Some Evidence from the North

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show the changing dynamics of attitudes toward indigenous languages in the USSR and the Russian Federation. Since language attitudes have rarely become a special object of investigation in Russian sociolinguistics, the article dwells on theoretical issues of language attitudes studies. Then the author briefly describes attitudes to indigenous languages in the USSR and in the Russian Federation and their close correlation with the state language policy. As an argument confirming the change in language attitudes, the author brings results of a psychosociolinguistic experiment conducted in the Republic of Buryatia in 2013. More explicit and detailed argumentation is provided using the case of languages of peoples of the North focusing on boarding schools for northern peoples in Russia and Finland. The author comes to the conclusion that Finland has switched to practical measures to preserve and develop the Sámi language, while in Russia the corresponding changes can be observed only at the level of attitudes to indigenous languages, and the majority of languages of the peoples of the North are in different stages of language shift. Generally, the article concludes about two opposite trends in Russia: one towards the policy of centralization and support of the state (Russian) language, another one is seen in the gradual change of language attitudes towards greater tolerance and appreciation of linguistic diversity and in the increase in language activism