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School-based linguistic and cultural revitalization as a local practice: Sakha language education in the city of Yakutsk, Russian Federation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Joan F. Chevalier
Joan F. Chevalier*
Affiliation:
Languages and Cultures Department, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, USA
*
*Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
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Abstract

In the 1990s, efforts were launched in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the Russian Federation to support the revival of Sakha (Yakut) language education. This interdisciplinary study examines the evolution of school-based Sakha language education in the city of Yakutsk over a 25-year period beginning with the launching of the first reforms in the 1990s. Language education reform in the capital city has been shaped by a dynamic interplay between federal, regional, and local factors. Grassroots social and cultural activism continues to play a key role in school-based language revitalization in Yakutsk, influencing how policies have been received and implemented at the local level. Local community stakeholders are working together to counteract federal education policies, which direct school resources away from minority language education. This case study shows that the Sakha (Yakut) language revival has taken root in the capital city, and it provides important evidence that civic activism continues to develop in urban areas of the republic.

Keywords

Sakha (Yakut) languagelanguage policylanguage revitalizationlanguage educationRussian Federationlanguage acquisition planning
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , July 2017 , pp. 613 - 631
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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