The city as a factor: the linguistic situation and perception of the problems of ethnic languages in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

In: Istoričeskaja ėtnologija: naučnyj žurnal, Band 9, Heft 3, S. 458-473

Abstract

The article attempts to identify the influence of the urban environment on linguistic behavior and linguistic aspects of identity among Yakut people at the present time, as well as risk factors of urbanisation for the functioning of the Sakha language in expert assessments. Based on the analysis of quantitative and qualitative assessments of the language situation and current problems in the language sphere in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in 2019 and 2022, it was concluded that due to the specifics of the socio-demographic, historical situation in the republic, the language sphere here is characterised by a high level of preservation and functionality of the Sakha language. Empirical evidence shows that language remains the most important identifier of ethnicity. For the vast majority of the Sakha, the Yakut language is the language of home communication (with differentiation of urban and rural populations); according to our data, the rural environment is actually completely Sakha-speaking. The use of the language in home communication and school education, support for the Yakut language at the republic-wide level, a large proportion of the rural population among the Sakha are significant factors in the preservation and development of the Sakha language. At the same time, the urban, or rather, the metropolitan environment in the republic is becoming a space for the development of discourses which postulate the importance of language as the main symbol of ethnicity and emphasise the damage inflicted on the Yakut language by the processes of urbanisation and universalisation of cultures.