According to 2014 data, some 82,500 representatives of indigenous small-numbered peoples live in the Russian Arctic. They speak 25 languages, divided into five language groups. These are the Nenets, Chukchi, Khanty, Evens, Evenki, Selkups, Sami, Inuit, Dolgans, Chuvans, Kets, Nganasans, Yukaghirs, Enets, Mansi, Veps, Koryaks, Itelmens and Kereks, writes the Russian International Affairs Council. Some languages are spoken by thousands while others have only a few speakers left. International Mother Language Day, founded to preserve the languages of different peoples of the world, is a good time to talk about the inhabitants of the Russian Arctic and their heritage.

Classification against nature

The current classification of indigenous Arctic languages in official documents only partially reflects the existing linguistic reality of the Polar region. For example, the Khanty language consists of several dialects, which differ from each other about the same as Russian and Polish: they have separate alphabets, vocabulary, orthography and grammar, and a different number of cases. That is, we may probably talk about several languages spoken by one people. The situation with the Nenets is a little simpler: there are only two Nenets languages, the 'tundra' one and the Neshan (forest) one. The Yukaghirs also have two languages, although, previously, there were four. The exact number of indigenous dialects in the Russian Arctic depends on the scientific views of the authors conducting the research, the linguistic school and the calculation methods, and therefore remains a topic of heated debate. 

Each of the languages of the indigenous Arctic peoples is a treasure, reflecting a massive layer of the heritage of those who were able to adapt to the local extreme weather. The Sami language has more than a thousand words for describing reindeer and 180 specialised terms for snow depending on its density, season, weather, etc., while the Inuit distinguish between more than 50 types of ice. The systematic study of the Russian Arctic's linguistic wealth began in the 1930s, and almost a hundred years later, scientists still have things to research. In addition, they have another important task: the number of languages is slowly dwindling, and they need to be preserved and supported.

The legacy of the transition period

Alexander Polikarpov, Doctor of Philological Sciences, believes that the indigenous languages of the Arctic are going through a crisis. He talked about it in an interview with the Scientific Russia portal. According to Polikarpov, the situation started to deteriorate during Perestroika, and today, Russia is reaping the fruits of that transition period. It was then that systematic state support for the local culture effectively disappeared, leading to a reduction in the number of native speakers and the loss of several dialects. The reason is simple: being included in the economic and social space of a large country, indigenous languages lose their effectiveness for speakers in everyday life, giving way to Russian as a means of inter-ethnic communication, education and technology.

The Soviet Union understood this back in its socialist infancy, leading to the implementation of global programmes to preserve the heritage of the Arctic peoples. In the 1930s, a written language was created for the Chukchi, Itelmen, Koryak, Evenki, Nenets, Selkup, Khanty and Veps languages, which helped to record their mythology and culture and print dictionaries and ethnic literature. The work with other languages did not stop for the next 60 years: the Sami received their alphabet in 1982, the Yukaghirs in 1969 and the Nganasans and the Enets in the 1980s. Work with the Inuit language continues to this day.

Today, Russia has several federal and regional projects to preserve living languages. They involve, as before, the development of scientific institutions, the creation of educational systems in the languages of the Arctic peoples, the introduction of digital technology and the stimulation of the local culture. Another crucial task is preserving the traditional way of life, in which the languages of the indigenous inhabitants of the Polar region are most effective. This policy is bearing fruit. For example, Alexander Polikarpov says that in NAA, many Nenets families leading a nomadic way of life speak their native language.

There are also several private initiatives. For example, the Fabulous North series was one of the first to launch bilingual editions, in which fairy tales of the small-numbered peoples of the Far East and the Arctic are printed both in Russian and in the original languages, accompanied by traditional storytelling techniques. In 2022 a collection of fairy tales titled Fabulous Taymyr was published.

There are several mobile applications for studying the peoples of the North, made by enthusiasts from among the indigenous peoples of the Polar region themselves. Itelmen, Sami and Evenki communities are attempting to conquer the digital space, just as they once conquered the tundra and the shores of the northern seas.