Practices of language shift reversal in Russia: A comparative case study of three regions

Родной язык: лингвистический журнал. 2025. No. 1. P. 41–71.

Shaymukhametov R.

Despite the increased academic interest in bottom-up language policy and language shift reversal in particular, most of the studies pertaining to the subject tend to describe instances of language activism as standalone cases. As of now, there have not been many attempts to study language activism through comparison and analysis of its different instances with a view to ascertaining their common properties and tendencies. The premises of our work suggest that a better understanding of the phenomenon of language activism may be achieved by comparing its different manifestations using a set of defined parameters. It is logical to assume that, on the one hand, a number of similar socio economic, political, cultural, and sociolinguistic conditions shared by different linguistic communities will influence the language policies implemented in those communities, thereby leading them in more or less similar directions. On the other hand, the differences found in such policies are likely to be explained by the extra-linguistic factors that differ. This work is an attempt to illustrate how juxtaposition of similar practices in different communities may shed light on some of the properties that are characteristic of language shift reversal in general, as well as some of the extra-linguistic variables that play an important role in shaping language shift reversal practices in terms of the means and measures preferred by activists locally. The specific focus of this research is on the language shift reversal practices among several languages historically spoken in the Republic of Karelia, Khabarovsk Kray, and Primorsky Kray in the Russian Federation. 

Keywords: нивхский язык, языковой сдвиг, вепсский язык, нанайский язык, языковой активизм, карельский язык, language shift, Karelian language, language activism, Veps language, Nanai language, Nivkh language, Oroch language, Udege language, орочский язык, удэгейский язык

Publication based on the results of: Language, literature and culture in historical and social perspective (2025)