The role of the family in the preservation of native languages: sociological survey of students of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Ugra

Volume 5, Number 1, 2020, P. 138–149

[ SOCIOLOGICAL SCIENCES ]

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Abstract:

The reforms of the last decades associated with the fall of the USSR and the political regime change have affected the most sensitive sphere – interethnic relations. It is known that their condition is characterized by a general social background in which political and economic factors are intertwined. Perhaps that is the reason why one of the most pressing challenges is the native language alienation that is the ethnolinguistic and sociocultural process. Based on the analysis of regional sociological experience, the article raises the problem of the state of the native languages of the titular ethnic groups of Ugra. It provides the results of the study of native minorities schoolchildren and usage of native languages (the Khanty, Mansi, Nenec languages) in the family. The study is based on the results of a sociological survey conducted in 2017 in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra and those of previous studies. It is concluded that in everyday life the languages of the Ob Ugrians lose their main role. They prefer to speak Russian that dominates in the linguistic space of the Ob North displacing the languages of the Khanty, Mansi, and others from everyday communication — the main environment in which the national language is naturally transmitted from generation to generation. As a result, on the one hand, the respondents demonstrated the primacy of the Russian language. On the other hand, they expressed hope for the preservation of their native languages through family communication in their native language in conditions of consistent generational communication and experience. The majority of respondents think that their native languages are likely to become extinct and they feel worried about it. Only some of the respondents believe that their native language is safe. The study draws attention to the fact that the solution to this problem depends on many factors, including the motivation of the speakers (participants) themselves.

Keywords:

questionnaire, small Northern peoples, students, native language, Russian language, family

Author:

Natalia V. Tkachuk, Researcher of Socio-Economic Development and Monitoring Department, Ob-Ugric Institute of applied research and development, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia

For citation:

Tkachuk N.V. (2020) The role of the family in the preservation of native languages: sociological survey of students of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Ugra. Sotsial’naya kompetentnost’ = Social Competence. Vol. 5. No. 1. P. 138–149. (In Russ.)

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