Oriental Studies (Dec 2022)
Tuvan in Education: Vitality of the Language Revisited
Abstract
Introduction. The article examines the functioning of Tuvan in the educational system from a historical perspective throughout the 20th–21st centuries. The work analyzes language development endeavors as part of Tuva’s educational policy, summarizes outcomes of sociological surveys for actual attitudes of Tuvan speakers to their native language as a value. Goals. The paper aims to show the importance of the educational system as a key sphere for language vitality. Materials and methods. The analyzed data were obtained from the research projects as follows: ‘Tuvan for Children’ — a regional educational project attended by a total of 52,186 individuals since 2019 (2019–2020 — 22,931; 2021–2022 — 29,255); and ‘Traditional Family Values in Spiritual and Moral Education of Children and Youth in the Tyva Republic’ — a scientific project to have involved 2,083 respondents in 2022, and aiming to determine whether the latter view their native (Tuvan) language as a value. Results. Outcomes of three monitoring surveys show a year-on-year increase in the number of pre-school children that learn Tuvan and a sufficient language proficiency level of theirs. The study attests to that native language is viewed as a value of the ethnos, and it is family that contributes most to its preservation. Conclusions. In a historical perspective, native language teaching has played a significant role in the educational system’s shaping as such. The actual state support for native languages of the Republic manifested in official languages development programs has significantly facilitated the emergence of additional opportunities for native (Tuvan) language teaching and learning in educational institutions.
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