Modern youth and the state of the Kalmyk language (accorditg to the results of the sociological analysis the 2000s)

Abstract

Language of kalmyk people, small ethnic group speaking one of the Mongolic Language buddhists living in the south of the Russian Federation, in the lower reaches of Volga, is under the threat of disappearance. The main reasons for the loss of its communicative functions are: 13-year-old Stalin’s deportation of the Kalmyk people (from 1943 till 1956), its geographical dispersion throughout the Siberian territory, elimination of the national classes after return home, the reduction or lack of motivation among the population in the study of the Kalmyk language. At the beginning of the 1990s processes of the ethno cultural revival began in the Republic, whose important direction was to raise the status of the Kalmyk language, its consolidation, along with Russian as a state language of the Republic of Kalmykia. This language policy gradually eliminates the effects of long-term use of deformation in the Kalmyk language, but it cannot overcome the effect of assimilation. Therefore realization of a sociolinguistic research whose primary purpose is to determine the real picture of the language competence of potential carriers of the Kalmyk language is necessary. Moreover, based on the analysis of the research the recommendations are developed that legislative, executive authorities of the republic require making effective decisions regarding the implementation of the language policy in the Republic. The article describes the results of massive polls, conducted in 2004, 2008, 2010, 2013 by Kalmyk Institute for Humanities Research, which allow us to consider what is the young people’s attitude towards problems of ethnic culture and preservation of the Kalmyk language. Poll results show that language competence of young Kalmyks has slightly increased. Students and post-graduate young people want to learn the language on their own, looking for new methods, ways for effective learning. This indicates that the system of reforming of the titular language has been built properly. The Republic has used various means since the beginning of 2010s to save the Kalmyk language, including the use of computer technologies and their application to native language lessons. Electronic textbooks, electronic versions of dictionaries, phrase, grammar, use of recordings of live speech have already been established. Consequently, young people, as a group, the most approximate to the information technology, successfully use in the process of mastering the Kalmyk language the most advanced technical means. To achieve these goals and the positive results of the activities implemented in the field of language, it is necessary to combine and coordinate the efforts of all social institutions - family, preschool, school, extracurricular and other educational institutions (university, college, etc.), labor collectives.