Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context
This paper analyses the language situation in the Republic of Sakha, Russian Far East. Due economic, social and political processes, Sakha language occupies at least two niches in the society – as a language of disadvataged low social strata and as a language for the national elite. The paper demons...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/sols.v9i2.26728 https://journal.equinoxpub.com/SS/article/download/7322/8714 |
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crequinoxpubl:10.1558/sols.v9i2.26728 2024-06-02T08:13:47+00:00 Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context Ventsel, Aimar Struchkova, Natal’ia 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/sols.v9i2.26728 https://journal.equinoxpub.com/SS/article/download/7322/8714 unknown Equinox Publishing Sociolinguistic Studies volume 9, issue 2-3, page 269-288 ISSN 1750-8657 1750-8649 journal-article 2015 crequinoxpubl https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v9i2.26728 2024-05-07T13:51:52Z This paper analyses the language situation in the Republic of Sakha, Russian Far East. Due economic, social and political processes, Sakha language occupies at least two niches in the society – as a language of disadvataged low social strata and as a language for the national elite. The paper demonstrates that one language can have several social positions simultaneously in an envirounment where multiple social, economic and political factors determe the social and cultural identity of its speakers. The role of education and access to the good quality schools is in the Republic of Sakha more crucial in creating a social status of the speakers and their language than official national language policy. Our paper is critical to sociolinguistic theories of “killer languages”, language utility, code switching and other theories that see a language group as homogenous body acting as a unit. The Sakha case demonstrates that in reality language speakers do not form a coherent group and the status of their language can vary according to the social position of the speakers. The paper also shows that processes we call “elitarisation” and “lumpenisation” of the language are intermingled and that people can move from one language strata into another using various strategies. As a result we conclude that in multilingual environment, education system is important as an institution that affects people’s life paths via networks they are able to establish in school or social groups they study with. Article in Journal/Newspaper Republic of Sakha Sakha Sakha language Equinox Publishing Sakha Sociolinguistic Studies 9 2-3 269 288 |
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This paper analyses the language situation in the Republic of Sakha, Russian Far East. Due economic, social and political processes, Sakha language occupies at least two niches in the society – as a language of disadvataged low social strata and as a language for the national elite. The paper demonstrates that one language can have several social positions simultaneously in an envirounment where multiple social, economic and political factors determe the social and cultural identity of its speakers. The role of education and access to the good quality schools is in the Republic of Sakha more crucial in creating a social status of the speakers and their language than official national language policy. Our paper is critical to sociolinguistic theories of “killer languages”, language utility, code switching and other theories that see a language group as homogenous body acting as a unit. The Sakha case demonstrates that in reality language speakers do not form a coherent group and the status of their language can vary according to the social position of the speakers. The paper also shows that processes we call “elitarisation” and “lumpenisation” of the language are intermingled and that people can move from one language strata into another using various strategies. As a result we conclude that in multilingual environment, education system is important as an institution that affects people’s life paths via networks they are able to establish in school or social groups they study with. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ventsel, Aimar Struchkova, Natal’ia |
spellingShingle |
Ventsel, Aimar Struchkova, Natal’ia Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context |
author_facet |
Ventsel, Aimar Struchkova, Natal’ia |
author_sort |
Ventsel, Aimar |
title |
Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context |
title_short |
Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context |
title_full |
Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context |
title_fullStr |
Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context |
title_sort |
sakha language and education in a social, cultural and political context |
publisher |
Equinox Publishing |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/sols.v9i2.26728 https://journal.equinoxpub.com/SS/article/download/7322/8714 |
geographic |
Sakha |
geographic_facet |
Sakha |
genre |
Republic of Sakha Sakha Sakha language |
genre_facet |
Republic of Sakha Sakha Sakha language |
op_source |
Sociolinguistic Studies volume 9, issue 2-3, page 269-288 ISSN 1750-8657 1750-8649 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v9i2.26728 |
container_title |
Sociolinguistic Studies |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
2-3 |
container_start_page |
269 |
op_container_end_page |
288 |
_version_ |
1800737401693274112 |