07 Марта

Report at the World Summit of UNESCO

Үтүө күнүнэн, ытыктабыллаах мунньах кыттыылаахтара!
Ыраах Саха сириттэн эһиэхэ барыгытыгар эҕэрдэ. Үтүө-чэгиэн чэбдик доруобуйаны, таһаарыылаах үлэни, үрдүк ситиһиилэри, сонун билсиһиилэри баҕарабын.

Dear colleagues!
I blessed you for a long and happy life full of creativity and communication, new knowledge and new friends in my native Yakut language. I brought warm greetings from the multinational people of the Sakha Republic, where the Pole of Cold is situated, and where there are more than 3 square kilometers per capita. Tolerance, trust, and mutual help are the basis of the circumpolar civilization created by our ancestors. These mandatory life conditions in the North determine both national and language policy in the republic.

Something about me and a topic of my speech. I represent the people of Sakha - Yakuts, amounted to 478,000 people. It is about one third of one percent of the entire population of Russia (0.33 %). My mother is from the southern Yakutia, her ancestors were the Yakuts, Russian, Jewish, Polish, Tungus. She spoke mostly in Russian. Father is from the western Yakutia, he spoke to us only in Yakut. In a bilingual family, I grew up as a fan of mathematics and physics. At school, I studied in Yakut and in Russian. I obtained higher education in Yakutsk and in Moscow, scientific works defense was held at the Russian Academy of Education. I am telling in detail, because my professional development is a very common, typical case for our country.

Russian Federation is one of the multilingual countries in the world; its peoples speak 180 languages. Yakutia is a multiethnic republic like other parts of the country; there are six indigenous peoples among 126 ethnic groups. Except for the Yakuts, these are the Evenks (21,000 people), Evens (15,000 people), Dolgans (2000 people), Yukagirs (1,600 people), and Chukchi (670 people). On a scale of Russia Yakut is a minority language, but on the scale of the region this is the language of the majority. The Russian and Yakut languages are recognized as state languages in the republic, the other five indigenous languages are official (Even, Evenk, Yukaghir, Chukchi, Dolgan).

In Yakutia, there are the laws, state program for the conservation and development of the state and official languages, Language Policy Council of the President of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Documentation is kept in both the Russian and the Yakut languages. There are television and radio programs, books, newspapers, magazines in state and official languages. Over the last 20 years the number of schools with languages of Indigenous Peoples of the North increased tenfold, nomadic schools has been created. In the republic, there are theatres of Russian and Yakut drama, theatre for children, and Opera and Ballet Theatre, where works by local authors are classed with the world's masterpieces.

There is a growing of indigenous languages prestige in the republic. 99 % speak native Yakut (20 years ago - 95.0 %). The Yakuts are characterized by a high level of the native language preservation. Language proficiency of Chuckhi has increased by 6 %, of Yukagirs by 4 %. Today 94 % of the population speak the Russian language in Yakutia, for example in 1989, only 62 % of the indigenous population of Yakutia speak the Russian language.

We need three key factors for a development of languages in cyberspace: tools (fonts, software, electronic dictionaries, etc.), institutions that develop and apply these tools, pleasant political and cultural environment to work effectively.

In Yakutia, the active work is conducted in all these areas. Therefore, we became one of the organizers of the first international conferences of UNESCO "Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace" in Yakutsk in 2008 and in 2011. Lena Resolution and Yakutian Appeal became the basis of the language policy of Russia and the republic.

In accordance with Lena Resolution, Center of Multilingualism in Cyberspace was opened in North-Eastern Federal University; its project is a development of a multilingual portal www.arctic-megapedia.ru, which will present the languages and cultures of indigenous peoples living in the northeast of Russia. In order to achieve this, fonts of alphabets are entered in a single keyboard layout. The portal will have sections on each people with information about their language and culture, and forums in their native languages.

The University developed the basis of www.arctic-megapedia.ru. We chose the Yukagirs to be the first because there are very few language speakers and culture-bearers; they are classified as endangered people. Today there are 1,600 Yukagirs (35 years ago there were 800 people). The portal contains all the available material on language and culture of Yukagirs in 16 sections. Information is in Yukagir, Russian, and English; the forum for communication in the native language is being created.

Our experience confirms that all levels of government, education system, scientific and cultural institutions, media, social organizations, and private sector make a contribution to the preservation, maintenance, enhancement, development of a language. However, the policy of the authorities and the mission of universities are of paramount significance. They create conditions for effective operation of all the other participants in the conservation and development of languages.

Our University, North-Eastern Federal University, is the largest university in the northeast of the country. Its development program approved by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. We teach more than 20,000 students from 27 Russian regions and 16 foreign countries. Young people today do not fear long distances and severe cold weather of the North. We create the university space, filled with kindness, love, and positive emotions. The main task is to create the university, friendly to students. We created Chukotka branch of NEFU, where one third of the students are the Chukchi. Institute of Languages and Culture of the Peoples of the Northeast of the Russian Federation was opened, and each year we conduct research on the North and indigenous peoples, we get the unique data that allows us to track trends in culture and languages of the peoples of the North since 1950, to build a forecast of their development up to 2050.

The problems of the language preservation are relevant for all countries where two or more languages are used. The goal of momentous importance is to build a functional linguistic equality. Despite the importance of bilingualism, the lingvoecological motivation plays crucial role, that is, the preservation and development of languages, expansion of their ranges. That is why we work with politicians, linguists, teachers, professors, workers of culture, parents of students and pupils. We are convinced that international solidarity, efforts on a level of UNESCO in the first place, within the framework of Information for All Programme are necessary for the preservation of linguistic diversity in cyberspace and its development. We are ready to go in the international process, not only learning from the experience of Europe and the world, but also offering a vast experience of regions, which Russia has accumulated over the centuries of its existence.