School-based linguistic and cultural revitalization as a local practice: Sakha language education in the city of Yakutsk, Russian Federation

Abstract

In the 1990s, efforts were launched in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the Russian Federation to support the revival of Sakha (Yakut) language education. This interdisciplinary study examines the evolution of school-based Sakha language education in the city of Yakutsk over a 25-year period beginning with the launching of the first reforms in the 1990s. Language education reform in the capital city has been shaped by a dynamic interplay between federal, regional, and local factors. Grassroots social and cultural activism continues to play a key role in school-based language revitalization in Yakutsk, influencing how policies have been received and implemented at the local level. Local community stakeholders are working together to counteract federal education policies, which direct school resources away from minority language education. This case study shows that the Sakha (Yakut) language revival has taken root in the capital city, and it provides important evidence that civic activism continues to develop in urban areas of the republic.

Keywords:

• Sakha (Yakut) language
• language policy
• language revitalization
• language education
• Russian Federation
• language acquisition planning

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the North-East Federal University in Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), for welcoming her as a visiting scholar and for providing logistical support during her stays in Yakutsk. She would also like to express her appreciation to the Ministry of Education of the City of Yakutsk for granting permission to conduct this project in the city schools.

Notes

1 In this paper, the term “Sakha” is used rather than the Russian term “Yakut” to refer to both the ethnic group and their language. Ethnic Sakha consider the Russian term to be pejorative. The official name of the republic is the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). This official name has been retained throughout the paper. The commonly accepted spellings of Yakutsk and Yakutia have been used throughout the paper, except in citations where these place names have been transliterated (Iakutsk and Iakutiia).

2 See Chevalier (2013) for a comparative study of school-based language revitalization in the republics of Tyva and Altai, which were arguably less successful than similar efforts in Sakha.

3 Interviews for the project were conducted in Russian.

4 Seven ethnolingual communities live in the republic including, in addition to Russians and Sakha, Evenki (1.9 % of the total population), Even (1.2%), Dolgan (0.1%), and Yukaghir (0.1%) (Sleptsov 2013, 21), and a small number of Chukchi speakers in the Nizhnaya Kolyma region (Robbek 1998, 113). A total of 605 respondents in the 2010 Census self-identified as Chukchi in the republic (TOFSGSRS 2015). For an overview of language shift in these populations, see Vakhtin (2001).

5 In 1979 96.4% of Sakha respondents indicated that they considered the Sakha language as their native language, and in 1985 the percentage dropped slightly to 95.1% (Gabysheva 2014, 172). In all, 92.6% of ethnic Sakha reported that Sakha was their native language in 2002 (Nikolaeva and Savvinov 2010, 135) and 90% in 2010 (TOFSGSRS 2015). Even though census data indicate that a large percentage of ethnic Sakha continue to identify Sakha as their native language, census data cannot be considered to be definitive. First, as Davies (2003) points out, non-linguistic factors such as prestige can influence how language proficiency is perceived. If proficiency in a given language is perceived as socially or economically desirable, poll respondents may display a tendency to overestimate their proficiency. Second, questions pertaining to language proficiency and native language on the Russian census have changed over time. Prior to 2002, the census asked which language respondents considered to be their “native” (rodnoi) language. In 2002 this question was replaced by questions asking the respondent to indicate the languages he/she is proficient in (vladeete li). The 2010 census included the questions from the 2002 census and restored the question about one’s native language. For discussions about the difficulty in interpreting census data about “native” languages and the evolution of Russian census questions pertaining to language, see Mestnikova (2010), Vakhtin (2001), Grenoble (2003), and Karklins (1980).

6 According to census data, the percentage of Sakha respondents indicating that they are proficient in Russian has risen steadily: 45.5% in 1970, 60.3% in 1970, 65% in 1989, and 87% in 2002 (Ivanova 2012, 22), and 89.3% in 2010 (TOFSGSRS 2015).

7 See Afanas’ev (1966) for a discussion of Sakha cultural forms of pedagogy.

8 In 1897 only 4% of people in the region were literate (Ivanova 2005, 7). The provincial government forbade dissemination of literacy skills in languages other than Russian. Nevertheless, Sakha-medium education was developed and used on a small scale by Russian political exiles in Sakha. Political exiles made an important contribution to education in Sakha by operating schools for small numbers of Sakha children that functioned clandestinely (Nikolaeva and Savvinov 2010).

9 For an overview of language policy in the Soviet Union, see Grenoble (2003).

10 For a discussion of the place of Sakha language during the period of korenizatsiia, or “nativization,” see Vinokurova (1994).

11 Only 16% of school-aged Sakha children in Yakutsk indicated in a sociolinguistic poll conducted by Argunova in 1986 that they were fully proficient in the Sakha language (1992, 75). When repeated in 1988, only 21.7% of Sakha residents of Yakutsk indicated that they were proficient in Sakha.

12 Argunova (1992, 59–64) compared results from polls done in the 1960s and 1980 and found that there was an almost 40% drop in the number of ethnic Sakha who said that they used Sakha at work. In 1968 almost 90% of Sakha respondents said they used Sakha at work.

13 Ivanov’s (2003) discussion of the poll results does not explain which aspects of Sakha history and culture were unfamiliar to poll respondents.

14 For a thorough overview of the evolution of language policies in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), see Mestnikova (2010).

15 See Balzer and Vinokurova (1996) for a discussion of the Sakha cultural revival in the 1990s.

16 For a discussion of the evolution of ohuokai and its importance in contemporary Sakha society, see Crate (2006). In 2005 UNESCO designated the Olonhko as a “Masterpiece of Humanity.” Note that Sakha music and aspects of Sakha traditional faith have also received government support. In 2002 Archie Diété, “Spiritual House,” which hosts Sakha cultural activities, was built with the official support from the mayor of Yakutsk.

17 For a discussion about democratization and promoting the use of Sakha language to counteract Russification policies of the Soviet era, see Zhirkov (1992); see also Nikolaeva and Savvinov (2010) and Argounova-Low (2012).

18 For an historical account of Sakha cultural activism, see Argounova-Low (2012).

19 For a description of the changes that resulted from the adoption of the plan to revitalize national schools in areas outside of Yakutsk, see Gur’ev (2012, 15).

20 For details about the distribution of Sakha language across functional domains in Yakutsk, see Sleptsov (2013) and Ivanova (2012).

21 One school director described parents arriving in trailers to survive waiting in the queue.

22 The author of this study compiled this statistic based on interviews with directors of the five schools in Yakutsk that provide transitional bilingual education.

23 For a discussion of this issue, see the following articles: “Zhitelei Iakutii za 8 let stalo men’she na 4 tysiachi – Rosstat” (2010) and “Uzhe ocheredi na zapis' pervokashek v shkolu!” (2014).

24 See also Ferguson (2015) for a discussion of this issue.

25 Its program is based in part on Afanas’ev-Téris’s aiyy yeurekhé (benevolent spiritual teaching) introduced into school curricula in the 1990s and rejected as non-secular. For more information about Afanas’ev-Téris’s place in the revival of Sakha culture, see Balzer (2005).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a US Research Scholar Grant from US-UK Fulbright Commission. The author expresses her thanks to Fulbright employees in Moscow and in Washington, DC for providing logistical support.