Languages of Russia

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Languages of Russia
Official language(s) Russian official throughout nation; twenty-seven others co-official in various regions
Main language(s) Russian
Main foreign language(s) 15% have foreign language knowledge1
  1. English (80% out of all foreign language speakers)
  2. German (16%)
  3. French (4%)
  4. Turkish (2%)
Sign language(s) Russian Sign Language
Common keyboard layout(s)
Russian

Contents

History

Russian was the sole official language of the Russian Empire which existed until 1917. During the Soviet period, the policy toward the languages of the various other ethnic groups fluctuated in practice. The state helped develop alphabets and grammar for various languages across the country that had previously been lacking a written form. Though each of the constituent republics had its own official language, the unifying role and superior status was reserved for Russian.

Russian lost its status in many of the new republics that arose following the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union. In Russia, however, the dominating status of the Russian language continued. Today, 97% of the public school students of Russia receive their education only or mostly in Russian, even though Russia is made up of approximately 80% ethnic Russians.

Official languages

 This article does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)

Although Russian is the only federally official language of the Russian Federation, there are several other officially-recognized languages within Russia's various constituencies. This is a list of languages that are official only in certain parts of Russia.

  1. Abaza (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)2
  2. Adyghe (in the Republic of Adygea)
  3. Altay (in the Altai Republic)
  4. Bashkir (in the Republic of Bashkortostan)
  5. Buryat (in Agin-Buryat Okrug and the Buryat Republic)
  6. Chechen (in the Chechen Republic)
  7. Chukchi (in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)
  8. Chuvash (in the Chuvash Republic)
  9. Erzya (in the Republic of Mordovia)
  10. Ingush (in the Republic of Ingushetia)
  11. Kabardian (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Karachay-Cherkess Republic2)
  12. Kalmyk (in the Republic of Kalmykia)
  13. Karachay-Balkar (in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic and Karachay-Cherkess Republic2)
  14. Khakas (in the Republic of Khakassia)
  15. Khanty (in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
  16. Komi-Zyrian (in the Komi Republic)
  17. Mansi (in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug)
  18. Mari (in the Mari El Republic)
  19. Moksha (in the Republic of Mordovia)
  20. Nenets (in Nenets Autonomous Okrug)
  21. Nogai (in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic)2
  22. Ossetic (in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania)
  23. Tatar (in the Republic of Tatarstan)
  24. Tuvаn (in the Tuva Republic)
  25. Udmurt (in the Udmurt Republic)
  26. Yakut (in the Sakha Republic)

Endangered languages in Russia

There are many endangered languages in Russia. Some are considered to be near extinction and put on the list of endangered languages, and some may have gone extinct since data was last reported. On the other hand, some languages may survive even with few speakers.

Some languages have doubtful data, like Serbian whose information in the Ethnologue is based on the 1959 census.

Languages near extinction

Most numbers are according to Michael Krauss, 1995. Given the time that has passed, languages with extremely few speakers (such as Kerek) might be extinct today.

Other endangered languages

Languages

See list of languages of Russia.

See also

External references

v • d • e
Languages of Europe
Sovereign
states
Dependencies,
autonomies,
other territories
Italics indicates an unrecognised or partially recognised country.  1 / 7 Entirely in Asia / on the African Plate, but historically considered European.  2 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the border definitions.  3 Has part of its territory in Asia.
v • d • e
Languages of Asia
Sovereign
states
Dependencies,
autonomies,
other territories
Italics indicates an unrecognised or partially recognised country.  1 Sometimes included in Europe, depending on the border definitions.  2 Also known as Myanmar.  3 Sometimes included in Oceania, and also known as Timor-Leste.  4 Transcontinental country.  5 Commonly known as Taiwan. 

References

  1. ^ http://www.osvita.org.ua/news/39386.html
  2. ^ a b c d "Constitution of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Chapter 1" (in Russian). Karachay-Cherkess Republic official website. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.

Wikipedia content modification information:

  • This page was last modified on 25 November 2008, at 15:14.

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