THE YOUTH OF INDIGENOUS MINORITIES IN THE NORTH OF THE REPUBLIC OF SAKHA (YAKUTIA): ETHNOLINGUISTIC IDENTITY AND LINGUISTIC BEHAVIOR

This article interprets the issues of their ethnolinguistic identity and linguistic behavior based on the results of a mass survey conducted among the rural and urban youth of the indigenous peoples of the North in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). From the theoretical point of view, different approaches to the interpretation of the concept of “mother tongue” and their projections in the programs of Russian censuses are analyzed. In comparison with the results of previous studies, the value orientations of young people from the North were examined, which revealed a significant shift in ethno-cultural attitudes: it was found that the ethnic marker "mother tongue" fell from first to fourth place in the hierarchy of ethno-communicative markers. The ethnolinguistic identity of young people was analyzed in the context of the process of linguistic change reflected in the results of the censuses throughout the Union and in Russia. In addition, the status and place of the state languages of the Republic of Sakha (Russian and Yakut) in the lives of people in the North were revealed through the prism of ethnolinguistic self-identification of respondents and the functional distribution of languages in the spheres of communication. The positive trends in language maintenance were identified by analyzing the responses to the question about the mastery of the mother tongue in the immediate environment as a function of age and place of residence. Rural youth are characterized by a high level of commitment to the ethnic language, which they consistently recognize as their native language. The successful transmission of the language from generation to generation shows a good level of language preservation. In the urban environment, there is a linguistic shift in favor of the more “prestigious” Russian language among respondents aged 15–19, but the older youth use their native language in almost all cases of communication. Nevertheless, the authors note a gradually growing ethnic self-awareness among young people from the North, which at the individual or group level may give a "second breath" to the indigenous national languages of the indigenous peoples of the North in Yakutia.

native language, ethnolinguistic identity, linguistic behavior, indigenous peoples of the North, the youth from the North