The same fate is predicted for Khanti, a member of the same language family also spoken in the region of the Ob and Irtysh rivers in central Russia. Johanna Laakso, professor for Finno-Ugrian Studies at the University of Vienna, is concerned with completing the documentation of this and other minority languages in the framework of an FWF (Austrian Science Fund) project and the EU (European Union) project ELDIA.
Most Finno-Ugrian languages are listed individually in the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages as endangered, seriously endangered or nearly extinct. Tragically, the Red Book lists several related languages as already extinct.
Education and Sovietisation
The reasons for the marginalisation of Mansi and Khanti are largely rooted in the decades-long sovietisation and Russian-language school education of Northwest Siberia, followed by massive migration of Russians to Northwest Siberia for jobs created with the discovery of gas and oil.
Under Johanna Laakso's coordination, this is a focus of an international project on the documentation of the Ob-Ugrian languages in the framework of the European Collaborative Research program EuroBABEL. "With only a few thousand native speakers, both languages are considered to be in grave danger", states Laakso, based at the Department for European and Comparative Linguistics and Literature, University of Vienna.
European Commission Seventh Framework Support
ELDIA (European Language Diversity for All) is a three-year project launched 8 March 2010. The project, co-ordinated by Professor Anneli Sarhimaa of the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, Germany, aims to develop a systematic and generalisable way of describing, measuring and evaluating the effects of the changing balances between European languages to produce an easily practicable instrument.
With this barometer it should be possible to analyse linguistic diversity, first through the use of different types of vehicular languages in different contexts, and secondly by asking questions about language vitality and endangerment.
Experts on applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, law, social studies and statistics, drawn from eight universities in six European countries, will work together to contribute to a better understanding of how local, “national” and “international” languages interact in contemporary Europe.
European Language Cultural Heritage
Current European language researchers need to acquire understanding of:
- multilingualism as part of the European cultural heritage, involving the use of both national and regional/minority languages
- active language use and language choices
- the complex role of language as a carrier of symbolic functions and cultural values
In the course of the three-year project fourteen Finno-Ugrian linguistic communities will be examined. The Finno-Ugrian minorities lend themselves particularly well to being objects of research as they offer a wide spectrum of ecological-geographical and sociopolitical conditions.
Voices From the Past
Work will be conducted among speakers of Meänkieli in Sweden, the North Saami in Norway, the Karelians and Vepsians in Russia, the Estonians in Finland and the Hungarians in Austria. It is intended that the results from the project and the 'vitality barometer' created should ultimately be applicable to other languages across a variety of contexts.
With so many of these languages already dubbed 'voices from the past', enshrined in obscure sound archives (most have no written form) and excluded from computerised learning materials in their own regions, for instance, this action from European academics becomes urgent.
Sources
Materials provided by the University of Vienna at AlphaGalileo
ELDIA website hosted by the University of Vienna
Valerie Williamson - Dr. Val Williamson is a freelance journalist and academic specialising in historical and popular culture topics.
