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THE DYNAMICS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL AND REGIONAL LANGUAGE LEGISLATION IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SAKHA (YAKUTIA) // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2022. Issue 4 (38). P. 9-26

The article considers the development of language legislation in the Russian Federation at the federal and regional levels after the 1990s, starting from the trends in language policy, its goals, actors, and debates. The current state of the subject shows that the legal, juridical, and sociolinguistic aspects of this issue are still poorly researched in relation to the materials on ethnic languages of the Russian Federation. The changing attitude of the world community towards linguistic diversity and the principles of language policy, which also affected the approach to the solution of the language issue in Russia, led to the admission of the need to develop a new language policy reflecting the interests of the state and its citizens, or to the introduction of new provisions in the legal acts concerning the ethnic languages of Russia. The main legal acts of the Russian Federation were adopted under different political conditions and therefore reflect the multidirectional language policy of the country as a whole. Language legislation falls under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and its subjects, with the federal legislature having the right to create the basis for the legal regulation of the languages of the Russian Federation. The legislation of the Russian Federation has maintained not only the Soviet hierarchy of language status, but also the principle of territorial division of language function, in which a given language changes its function in the official spheres of communication depending on its localization in a given subject and the compact way of life of its speakers. The researchers note that the language policy of the Russian Federation since 2010 has existed on two levels – de jure and de facto. On the one hand, a policy of linguistic unity in diversity is built – multilingualism is a priority, on the other hand, there is a language policy of centralization – the creation of a monolingual single communicative space, which leads to a linguistic monopoly, dominance in all areas of the functioning of the Russian language. The role of other languages in the life of the state is no longer recognizable. The last decade has reflected this trend in a number of adopted language laws. The most important innovation in the language legislation of the Russian Federation is the amendment to Article 68 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 14.03.2020, which was adopted in the all-Russian vote on 01.07.2020. According to it, the Russian language received a specific definition of the language of the state-forming ethnos, i.e., a part of the multi-ethnic union of equal peoples. Another innovation in the language legislation of RF is the adoption of amendments to the Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” and the introduction of the norm for the voluntary study of native languages, which active debates in recent years have accompanied. As a result, researchers point to an obvious deterioration of conditions for bilingualism, which are uneven in all subjects of the Russian communication space and create conditions for the expansion of monolingualism. In the article, special attention is paid to the analysis of the development of language policy and legislation in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The linguistic context of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is considered from the point of view of “key actors”, “key models”, and active discussions in public and scientific discourses. The changes in language behavior and attitudes of young people and children in Sakha, gradually leading to Russian monolingualism, a decline in bilingual practices, and an imbalance in legislative initiatives on language use, are of great importance to the Yakut community. This fact urges an analysis of the activities of the current language policy in the republic. The considered experience in language policy and peculiarities of language legislation of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) allow to highlight the positive and negative aspects of the current federal and regional language policy and to consider the possibility of transferring the positive experience to other regions of the Russian Federation.

Keywords: languages of Russia, language policy, language legislation, language rights