YAKUTSK, August 13. /TASS/. Experts have been working on an Arctic multi-lingual website, animated films based on Enets and Nenets fairy tale plots and videos dedicated to the ancient culture of Yukaghirs, all to preserve the endangered languages of the low-numbered peoples of the North and Arctic. On the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, August 9, experts told TASS about their initiatives to preserve the Northern languages.
Russia’s state national policies strategy to 2025 prioritizes state support and protection of cultures and languages of the peoples of the country.
The UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger, published in 2010, reads that out of more than 7,000 languages about 2,500 are in danger. The Russian educational system uses more than 100 languages, of which 24 are used as the medium of instruction and 81 as subjects of study, including as part of extracurricular activities.
On the verge of ethnic crisis
Like nobody else, the low-numbered indigenous peoples of the North and Arctic feel the modern challenges. The aggressive globalization, man-induced processes and active industrial development of their native habitat have a devastating impact on the traditional way of life, says Anatoly Zhozhikov, DSc in Pedagogy and head of the UNESCO international department Social and Human Adaptation of the Arctic Regions to Climate Change at North-Eastern Federal University.
"Amid rapid processes of globalization and industrial development in the North these peoples are on the verge of an ethnic crisis, which threatens the unity of ethnic elements, including the language. This accelerates the rate of extinction of languages, devastating shrinking of the number of native speakers in the North and Arctic and gradual loss of their authentic cultural heritage. To address these trends, urgent measures must be taken to preserve and develop the languages and cultures of the indigenous peoples of the North," the expert said.
Since 2011, North-Eastern Federal University has been working on the Arctic multi-lingual website, arctic-megapedia.ru, where already now users may see low-numbered indigenous peoples of the Far East: the Yukaghirs, Evens, Evenks, Dolgans, Chukchi, Nanais, Negidals, Udeges, Koryaks and others.
"We plan to present on the website about 70 languages of the Arctic peoples native to both Russia and other states. We have filed an application to get the Arctic Council’s funding. The website will offer online phrasebooks and video lessons," he added.
Supporting communities
An expert at North-Eastern Federal University, Elida Atlasova plans to implement a project - Revived Drawings of Ancient Yukaghirs, which has won a grant of Yakutia’s governor. "The project presents the Yukaghir’s culture of drawings on birch bark. Women used this kind of drawings for love letters and men drew routes, hunting and fishing scenes," she said.
The organizers will work with pupils at Yakutia’s Andryushkinskaya School to make 15 videos about how the Yukaghirs live. "The students will make traditional drawings, and we shall make videos in two languages - Yukaghir and Russian. They will be on the Internet and the wide audience will learn about the unique Yukaghir traditions," she said.
In 2016, she organized the Keyghur nomadic community of the Yukaghirs. "New jobs, higher living standards, infrastructures and better conditions for the youth," she said, adding that the community’s main business is making national clothes.
Initiatives of Arctic Development Project Office
The Arctic Development Project Office (PORA) offers grants for initiatives to preserve languages of the North’s indigenous peoples. One of the grants has been used to publish the Dolgan ABC Book, and on September 1, when a new academic year begins, the little Dolgans, who live on the Taimyr Peninsula, will use this book at lessons.
PORA is a national platform for state, public and commercial organizations, interested in the Arctic’s sustainable development. The expert center raises awareness to social, economic and environmental aspects of living in northern Russia.
"We have been digitalizing the cultural heritage of the North’s peoples, so that to use the format friendly for kids and teenagers - to use the channels they use. We have supported work on Enets and Nenets animated fairy tales. We also have streaming projects: on social networks people from the North’s various regions recite tales and teach traditional games as well as how to cook national dishes. During the self-isolation period, we organized a special resource (poravsedoma.ru), which was very popular," the project office’s Director General Alexander Stotsky said.
PORA supports publishing projects to preserve the rare and endangered languages of Russia’s Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Here belong school books in more than a dozen languages, which are expected to be certified for use at schools.