1. Eulogy to Multilingualism in Siberian Context
Olga Kazakevich
Language revitalization, Helsinki, S

2. The paper presents some results and shares some experiences of a series of sociolinguistic surveys done in the last two decades ( ) as a part of several projects on language documentation and description realized (or being realized) at the Laboratory for Computational Lexicography, Research Computing Centre, Lomonosov Moscow State University and supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Researches, Russian Foundation for the Humanities and Yamalo-Nenets Centre for Arctic Researches .

3. We surveyed 45 settlements with Selkup, Ket, Evenki, Enets, Nenets, Dolgan local communities situated in Western and Central Siberia (Krasnoselkup and Pur districts, Yamalo-Nenets autonomous area, Evenki, Taimyr, Turukhansk and Yeniseisk districts, Krasnoyarsk territory, Upper-Ket and Kargasok districts, Tomsk region).

5. Linguistic situation in the surveyed local communities

6. In all the settlements, including those where the autochthonous population represent the overwhelming majority and where people still keep traditional way of life, the main means of communication both at home and in the community life is Russian.

7. Children able to speak their ethnic language are scares, they can still be found only in four Selkup and one Evenki villages of the surveyed area.

11. It cannot be said that the problem of heritage language attrition does not worry the communities. The attitude of ethnic community members towards the heritage language is mostly positive, the majority of parents say they want their children to speak their ancestral language, but even those parents who are able to speak it themselves choose to speak Russian with their children.

12. Though the ancestral language is regarded as desirable for children by the majority of parents, it is Russian that is considered absolutely obligatory
Actually, people do not believe that anything can be done to stop the shrinking of the use of their ancestral languages. Many of them just state their heritage language is dying.

13. The prejudice that to learn the language of the majority, which gives access to education, professional career and prosperity, is only possible abandoning the ancestral language is still wide-spread both inside and outside ethnic minority groups, it is wide-spread in different social strata including educational authorities.

14. So, the first thing to be done to support autochthonous languages is to overcome the prejudice. Advertising the advantages of multilingualism could be most helpful in the Siberian context.

15. Attitudes towards multilingualism in local communities
Multilingualism is respected , but for many community members it is mostly regarded as a capacity of the past heroes:
“My father/grandfather/grandmother spoke Selkup, Evenki, Ket and Nenets. They were great people long ago!”.

16. Meanwhile, last year in the tiny village of Ratta at the Taz River our language consultant Yuriy Aleksandrovich Irikov gave a speech, which was nothing but a Eulogy to Multilingualism.

18. na kuty śitty ə̄ty-sa mulymp-a this who two word-INSTR speak-3SG.SBJ
1. man nįk tεnyrp-aŋ
1SG so think-1SG.SBJ
I think as follows:
na kuty śitty ə̄ty-sa mulymp-a
this who two word-INSTR speak-3SG.SBJ
The one who speaks two languages
pūt somaŋ mulε̄i-tεnt-a
then well speak-FUT-3SG.SBJ
will speak well ,
nȳny mənyj ə̄ty-m na εj somaŋ ünDε̄i-nty-ŋyt
then foreign word-ACC this also well hear-FUT-3SG.OBJ
Then he will also understand a foreign language well.

19. 2. kuty śitty ә̄ty-sä mulympy-lä Who speaks two languages,
who two word-INSTR speak-CVB
Who speaks two languages,
qō-ty čaŋak ε̄-j-a
ear-POSS.3SG pure be-3SG.SBJ
His ears are pure.
3. mē nįk kətk-ᴐ̄myn
1PL so say-3PL
We say so:
qō-ty čaŋak ε̄-j-a
ear-POSS.3SG pure be-PRS-3SG.SBJ

20. znachit somak somak tanym-nεnt-a It means he will learn well, well,
It.means well well learn-FUT-3SG.SBJ
It means he will learn well, well,
cək tanym-nεnt-a
quickly learn-FUT-3SG.SBJ
He will learn quickly.
4. čəŋ aj čəŋ aj tεny-ty kojymᴐ̄tk-a
quickly and quickly and mind-POSS-3SG turn-3SG.SBJ
And his mind turns quickly
ürō-myn-ty kojymᴐ̄tk-a näjεnty
buisiness-PROL-POSS.3SG turn-3SG.SBJ so .it.is
properly turns.

21. toqtyr-qa poľńitsā-χyn as a nurse at the hospital.
5. nätak tymty ūčy-nt-y
girl here work-EVID-3SG.SBJ
A girl works here
toqtyr-qa poľńitsā-χyn
nurse-TRANSL hospital-LOC
as a nurse at the hospital.
təm muntyŋ ə̄ty-nty-sä somaŋ muly-nt-a
she all word-POSS.3SG-INST well speak- EVID-3SG
She can speak well all the languages…

22. Actual lethnic anguage functions
Keeping secrets: ethnic language is valued by their speakers as a means of secret communication.
Preserving people’s history:
“Let my word go farther to my great grandchildren, may it remain after I am gone to the ancestors”

26. The situation of language shift is today quite common for autochthonous communities of Siberia. Meanwhile, each surveyed settlement gives a new fragment and quite often a new dimension of the linguistic situation in the area.

27. Local specific features should be taken into account when we try to understand the processes going on, to evaluate the perspectives of language maintenance and to develop appropriate approaches to effective language supporting policies.

28. Thank you!