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Nikolai PAVLOV
Administrator, Sakha Wikipedia
(Yakutsk, Russian Federation)
Role of Modern ICT in Keeping Sakha Language Afloat
Continuity: General Considerations
The Sakha language, better known as Yakut, branched off from its parent
language, proto-Turkic, about two thousand years ago. Despite Mongol and
Tungus-Manchurian influences, it has preserved its basic structure to this
day, and, according to experts, is, perhaps, the closest of all modern languages
to Proto-Turkic.
The current processes of globalization and cultural homogenization dramatically
undermine the world’s ethnic diversity while also stepping up contact between
languages, which may enrich or debilitate one another as a result.
This leads to many smaller communities losing touch with their roots and
finding themselves on the sidelines; the situation further aggravates social
inequality, causing public discontent. There is a risk of subversive forces
hijacking that protest sentiment, especially strong among the young.
This is why it is so important to sustain linguistic and cultural continuity
from one generation to the next. Few people would deny that language is an
important (perhaps even the most important) element of any ethnic culture.
Every particular language has its own ways to encode basic notions of life, and
human language at large is a means of identity building as much as a product
of social development.
How a Minority Language Could Be Preserved
One method consists in linguistic standardization (including of neologismbuilding
rules) and the creation of databases from documents and text corpora.
Another is about the preservation of living small languages as means of everyday
communication. This can be achieved by expanding their functional scope and,
more importantly, by ensuring their generational continuity.
Instilling Love for Mother Tongue in Younger Generation
Let us begin by outlining children’s personality and worldview development
milestones. For the sake of convenience, we will rely on the commonly accepted
ages & stages model.
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