Research on the Language Protection Modes of Cross-Border Ethnic Groups in China and Russia—Taking the Oroqen nationality in China and the Evenki nationality in Russia as Examples

Abstract

Cross-border ethnic groups are a group of people living separately in two or more modern countries due to a long history of development. The Oroqen nationality and the Evenki nationality, as homologous ethnic groups living across the border of China and Russia, both belong to the Manchu-Tungusic group of Altaic languages, which are very similar and have great significance for the survival of the two ethnic cultures. With the historical changes and social development, the ethnic languages of the Oroqen nationality and the Evenki nationality are seriously on the danger of disappearing. In this regard, China and Russia have adopted institutionalized and systematic protection measures and formed their own distinctive language protection modes from three aspects: policies and laws, theoretical research and educational practice, which has alleviated the former endangered situation of ethnic languages. Based on the necessity of cross-border ethnic language protection, this paper explores the protection modes of these two ethnic languages and puts forward suggestions for further strengthening the protection in the future, in order to provide help for improving the soft power of national culture and enhancing the friendship between China and Russia.