THE BURYAT LANGUAGE IN THE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE AND LANGUAGE PRACTICES IN ULAN-UDE

Vyacheslav V. Ivanov

Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation

Abstract

The article examines the presence and functioning of the Buryat language in the public space of the city of Ulan-Ude (Republic of Buryatia), reflected in the assessments of two groups of actors: “ordinary” citizens and businesspersons. Interviews conducted with the citizens show, on the one hand, predominance of the Russian language in the urban space, and, on the other hand, an increase in the presence of the Buryat language in the last decade. The citizens’ support for this process is manifested in the awareness of the legal status and demographic situation of the Buryat language, and in the willingness of individual actors to promote Buryat-language practices in the public urban space. Representatives of another group, the businesspersons, also support the increase in the presence of the Buryat language by choosing names in Buryat, but are limited in their active actions by established Russian-speaking practices. In general, such positive assessments and actions of representatives of both groups of actors create an opportunity for the further establishment of Buryat-Russian bilingualism in the urban space of the capital of the Republic of Buryatia.

Keywords: the Buryat language, linguistic landscape, language practices, urban multilingualism, language ideologies

For citation: Ivanov V.V. The Buryat language in the linguistic landscape and language practices in Ulan-Ude. Sociolinguistics, 2021, no. 1(5) [online], pp. 147–163. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.37892/2713-2951-2021-1-5-147-163