1.5.2 The Arctic Center: Linguistic and Cultural Diversity of the North, Siberia and the Far East
Andrian Vlakhov
Project Leader
Project period
2021-2025
Context of Research Project within a Subject of Human Capital
Linguistic and cultural diversity is a necessary condition for the human potential development. The Arctic region is strategically important for Russia and the whole world. A comprehensive study of the Arctic using methods from social sciences and humanities is topical both for science and applied industries.
The research project The Arctic Center: Linguistic and Cultural Diversity of the North, Siberia and the Far East focuses on the extremely urgent task of describing and studying Russia's unique heritage: languages and cultures of the population of the Arctic, many of which are under threat or even dying out. The study of the Arctic and Northern languages and cultures is important for the development of socio-economic policy and human development in the region.
Project Aim
Conducting an interdisciplinary study of linguistic and cultural diversity of the Arctic and Northern population as a necessary condition for the human potential development, ensuring sustainable development of the region and humanity in general.
Project Objectives:
- Documenting languages and cultures of the Arctic regions (Yakutia, Chukotka, Kamchatka, Karelia, Komi, Svalbard, etc.)
- Working with local communities, disseminating research results among native speakers of languages and cultures
Key Findings
2020
The research project has been implemented since 2021
2021
Data on grammatical, phonetic, and semantic phenomena in language systems have been systematized; sociolinguistic situation in the community, representation of local languages in the linguistic landscape, attitudes towards language and language shift, linguistic, cultural, and ethnic policy have been analyzed; ethnocultural situation in the regions and local identities have been studied, as well as the modern state of traditional practices of the indigenous population of the Arctic.
2022
It has been established that the language shift (loss of indigenous languages) in Arctic communities is proceeding much faster than previously assumed, and has significantly accelerated due to the latest changes in language legislation. In particular, these processes have affected the language communities of the north-west of the Russian Arctic, where no new native speakers of indigenous languages have been recorded at all. The situation requires close attention and urgent intervention of decision makers.
Karelian hut (‘Karjalan Pirtti’), village Pyaozersky, Republic of Karelia
2023
The insufficiency of commonly used methods for studying social factors affecting the preservation and loss of the native language in Arctic communities has been revealed. The preservation of the languages of the peoples of the North and the Arctic is influenced not only and not so much by education or the linguistic biographies of a person and his parents, but primarily by the migration processes that a person encountered and the dynamics of his social ties in the local community. For such an approach, it is necessary to study both the purely linguistic features of the speech of representatives of local communities, as well as a detailed socio-anthropological study of the changes in the life of such communities.
Practices of the revival of Northern cultures and languages: "Krasnaya Yaranga" in the Bystrinsky district of the Kamchatka Territory
Educational Programs
Publications
- Vinyar A. I. (2023) Beyond syntacticocentric and lexicalist: Event-structural force-dynamic approach to noun incorporation and promotion to direct object in Amguema Chukchi //Voprosy Jazykoznanija. – 2023. – №. 2. – С. 114-143. doi
- Mordasov M., Smirnova A., Vlakhov A. Our Komi, Their Komi: Izhma Komi Identities through Language Ideologies.// Etnografia. 2023. 3 (21): 125–142. (In Russian). doi
- Stenin I. A. On passive verbs with the marker -ra / -rye in Tundra Nenets. Voprosy Jazyko-znanija, 2023, 4: 21–46. doi
- Vinyar A.I., Vlakhov A.V., Sieber I.A., Lapina M.S., Mordasov M.A., Ryzhkov A.M., Smirnova A.A., Steninch I.A. Languages and cultures of the indigenous population of Russia: how and why to preserve diversity? (RU). // Research Digest - № 4 (33). - 2024.
- Sieber I. A. Assimilation of lateral consonants (acoustics and typological parallels) // Bulletin of Tomsk State University. Philology. 2024. No. 90. pp. 26–50, doi: 10.17223/19986645/90/2
Digital product
Website "Languages and Cultures of the North in field research materials"
Conferences
International Festival Pint of Science 2021 (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Russia, May 17-19, 2021)
Vlakhov A. Social and Humanitarian Studies of the Arctic (05/17/2021)
XV Congress of Anthropologists and Ethnologists of Russia (St. Petersburg, Russia, June 26-30, 2023):
- Round table "Human potential, Social Sustainability and Cultural diversity in the context of global challenges" by the Higher School of Economics and the IEA RAS. Vlakhov A.V. Dynamics of ethnolanguage diversity in the Arctic in the context of the latest changes in the legislation of the Russian Federation on language: challenges and strategies to overcome (28/06/2023)