Problems of the Languages Vitality of the Peoples of Russian Federation in Past and Present

Abstract

The issues related to the problems of vitality of the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation are discussed in the article. It is noted that the solution to these problems was at a low level during the USSR period, and at present there are no significant changes in its attitude. The analysis of the concept of vitality, its main indicators and factors affecting its level is given. A sociolinguistic review of the languages of the Russian Federation on the official status enshrined in constitutions, laws on languages and other normative documents is presented. Particular attention is paid to the national linguistic policy of the state and those extra-linguistic aspects that have had a great influence on the value orientations of native speakers. Statistical indicators of the decrease in the functional significance of national languages and the growing trend of a language shift in favor of the Russian language are given. It is proved that the official status of the state title languages of the republics has brought little change to the regional language situation. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the past 2019 was declared by the UN General Assembly as the International Year of Indigenous Languages, as well as the fact that in the Russian Federation recent years have been conflicting regarding the voluntary and compulsory study in schools by all students of the state title languages of the republics, despite on the nationality and desire of the student himself. The novelty is seen in the fact that the author analyzes the vitality of languages of the largest peoples of the Russian Federation with a population of over 1 million and over 500 thousand in different time periods.

Keywords

• vitality of language
• status languages
• functional load of language
• psychological factor
• language laws
• language shift