The Sakha Language Beyond the Sakha Ethnic Environment: The Case of an Evenki Village in an Industrial District of Yakutia

The Sakha language as an object of sociolinguistic research is traditionally examined within the context of the Yakut ethnolinguistic community, while Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples of the North (ISNPN), 64.7% of whom speak Yakut, remain on the periphery of analysis. Meanwhile, representatives of ISNPN are de facto part of the Sakha language community, and studying language processes among them allows for assessing the vitality of the Sakha language across the republic, not only among ethnic Yakuts. In the context of documented language shift among Sakha children and youth, research on the functioning of the Sakha language in non-Yakut ethnic environments becomes particularly important for understanding the factors ensuring language sustainability beyond its ethnic core. The aim of the study is to examine the functioning of the Sakha language among Sakha-speaking Evenks using the case of Syuldyukar village in the Mirny District of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The methodological framework is based on the case study method within an ethnosociopsycholinguistic approach employing a triangulation strategy. The research is based on a comprehensive survey of the adult Evenk population of the village (n=90), in-depth interviews, participant observations, and a free association experiment (n=80). The results demonstrate stable positions of the Sakha language: it dominates in all spheres of everyday communication, serves as the foundation of ethnolinguistic identity, and is perceived as a priority for transmission to subsequent generations. The language situation is characterized by a high degree of consistency between language attitudes and actual practices. Analysis of the associative field of the stimulus “sakha tyla” revealed deep internalization of the Sakha language in the linguistic consciousness of the Evenk population: the dominance of the identificational-affiliative zone and the absence of negatively colored reactions indicate the perception of Yakut as “one’s own” language, rooted in biographical and cultural experience. It has been established that language vitality is determined not only by the ethnic composition of the population but also by a complex of sociolinguistic factors: residential compactness, intensity of intragroup communication, family language strategies, availability of language resources, and others. The obtained results highlight the need to expand the research perspective in assessing the vitality of the Sakha language and to include representatives of ISNPN as full members of the Sakha language community in the analysis.

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