Abstract
The article deals with the categorization of Chuvash, a Turkic language, spoken by Chuvash people (their population number is 1435872) and spread in the areas along the Volga and the Urals. In present day Chuvash as well as Russian is a state language in the Chuvash Republic, its legal status being determined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation and that of the Chuvash Republic. Historically the area inhabited by Chuvash speakers goes beyond the administrative borders of the Republic, almost a half of Chuvash ethnic groups live in various regions in Russia either in compact or disperse groups as internal migrants. In a number of regions in accordance with the Law “On Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation” (1991, modified in 1998, 2002, 2013 and 2014), Chuvash enjoys a status of a language of population in an area of compact residence (art. 3.4) and therefore it can be used in official spheres, as a language of instruction and education, a language of mass media, etc. In areas, where ethnic groups are disperse, their languages do not have a legal status, the only category that can be assigned to them is that of a “native language” (rodnoj âzyk) the category itself is confusing, though widely used in censuses and legal acts. The field research was conducted in a group of 100 Chuvash interviewees, members of Moscow region community. The paper demonstrates the problem of determination of the category of a native language: the recognition of an ethnic language as native does not attest of a language competence, rather of language loyalty, which frequently manifests itself in migrants setting.
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Notes
- 1.
There are at least 35 modern languages and dialects and more than six well-recorded ancient and medieval languages in the Turkic language family (Dybo 2006). Chuvash’s kindred languages in the Turkic language family are Tatar, Bashkir, Turk, Azerbaijani, Altaic, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Turkmen, Yakut amongst others (Fomin 2016b).
- 2.
The law “On Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation” states in Article 2 on the state guarantees of equality of languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation:
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Paragraph 1. “Equality of languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation is a set of rights of peoples and individuals to the preservation and comprehensive development of a native language, freedom to choose and use a language of communication.”
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Paragraph 2. The Russian Federation guarantees to all its peoples, regardless of their number, equal rights to preserve and fully develop their native language, freedom to choose and use a language of communication.
Article 3 on Legal Status of Languages:
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Paragraph 1: the state language of the Russian Federation throughout its territory is Russian.
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Paragraph 2: in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation the republics may establish their own state languages.
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Paragraph 5: The state recognizes the equal rights of all languages of the Russian Federation to be preserved and developed. All languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation are supported by the state (The law “On Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation”).
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- 3.
Chapter 1 Article 8 of the Constitution of the Chuvash Republic states: “The state languages of the Chuvash Republic are Chuvash and Russian” (The Constitution of the Chuvash Repubic).
- 4.
The law “On languages in the Chuvash Republic” (Chapter 1, article 2, paragraph 1) stipulates that “Chuvash and Russian shall be established the state languages in the Chuvash Republic. The status of Chuvash and Russian as state languages does not infringe on the rights of representatives of other peoples to use and develop their languages. The Chuvash Republic takes state care of the comprehensive development of Chuvash and Russian and provides for their active functioning in various spheres of state, socio-economic and cultural life” (The law “On languages in the Chuvash Republic”).
- 5.
Article 26 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation refers to the right to use a native language, to freely choose a language of communication and to use it for upbringing, instruction and in creativity. In Article 68 (paragraph 3) the Russian Federation guarantees to all its peoples (ethnic groups) a right to maintain their native language and to provide conditions to study and develop it (The Constitution of the Russian Federation).
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Kutsaeva, M. (2019). Categorization of the Chuvash Language in the Chuvash Republic and Beyond. In: Moskvitcheva, S., Viaut, A. (eds) Minority Languages from Western Europe and Russia. Language Policy, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24340-1_11
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