Yukaghir Language Day - Wadun aruu chilagi/Odul azhuu podorhogi
On February 14, 2025, the Yukaghirs celebrated Mother Tongue Day at the Kulakovsky Peoples' Friendship House. The day's program included presentations of implemented projects by the Yukaghir Association of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Council of Yukaghir Elders for the preservation and Development of the Yukaghir language and culture in 2024. In addition, the program was filled with musical performances by the participants of the round table.
The event began with the blessing of Makar Semenovich Kurilov, Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Yukaghirs. On behalf of the Ministry for the Development of the Arctic and the Affairs of the Peoples of the North of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Mikhail Pogodaev, Deputy Minister, noted the fruitful work of the Yukaghir public organizations and announced an action plan for the preservation of the Yukaghir culture and language this year, where, among other things, it is planned to hold events to perpetuate the memory of the significant Yukaghir figure Kurilov Gavril Nikolaevich – Uluro Ado. Deputy Head of the Department of National Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Relations and Peoples' Affairs of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Olga Fedorovna Timofeeva-Tereshkina made a welcoming speech, emphasizing the department's work and participation in preserving the Yukaghir culture and language. Over the past year, the Department of National Policy has helped to organize the national holiday "Shahadyibe", events under the state program for the preservation of languages and cultures of indigenous peoples of the North of Yakutia.
Next, the participants of the round table got acquainted with the results of projects implemented by the Yukaghir Association of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Council of Elders of the Yukaghirs for 2024. Irina Sergeevna Kurilova and Makar Semenovich Kurilov shared with the results of the project "Guardians of the ancient amulet-Arruu" on recording the living tundra Yukaghir language. The expedition covered the village of Andryushkino, village of Kolymskoye, village. Chersky of Nizhnekolymsky ulus, Srednekolymsk, as well as in Yakutsk from April to May 2024. Yukaghirs who speak the Tundra Yukaghir language live compactly in these settlements. They told me. The project was funded by ALROSA. In addition to the Yukaghirs, the project team managed to record live speech from Evens and Chukchi. The work included communication with native speakers of the language and culture, local cultural workers and artists, and visits to museums. An important task of the project is to transfer the recorded material to the media themselves and their relatives in physical and digital media. During the expedition to the village of Andryushkino, Makar Semenovich and a student of the 11th grade, Adelina Sleptsova, created and edited a cartoon based on the Yukaghir legend of the hero Edilway on a smartphone. Native language teachers helped in correcting the text in Yukaghir, and the rest of the school's students joined in the voiceover. The cartoon was presented to the participants of the round table.
An interesting project was the "Fixation of Yukaghir articulatory settings of speech sounds by the MRI method", supported by ALROSA, it was presented by Nikolai Sergeevich Urtegeshev, Doctor of Philology, leading researcher at the V.M. Nadelyaev Laboratory of Experimental Phonetic Research of the Siberian Branch of Languages of the Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chief Researcher at the Department of Northern Philology of the Institute for Humanities Research and Indigenous Studies of the North of Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Using MRI, we examined how articulation changes when pronouncing a particular sound in the Yukaghir language. The study involved guardians of the Yukaghir languages, Darya Petrovna Borisova (taiga) and Anastasia Semenovna Tataeva (Tundra). The scientist noted that this study is useful for studying and clarifying articulation, which can affect the spelling of a language.
Vyacheslav Shadrin, Chairman of the Yukaghir Council of Elders, summed up the Council's work over the past year and made a summary of the current state of the Yukaghir language. During 2024, with the financial support of ALROSA, many books by Yukaghir writers were published, including G.N. Kurilov – Uluro Ado, cartoons based on Yukaghir legends and fairy tales were created and released. According to the All-Russian Population Census of 2020-2021, there are 1,813 Yukaghirs, and 504 people who recognize Yukaghir as their native language. According to Vyacheslav Shadrin, this does not mean that the respondents speak Yukaghir, but noted this indicator of the severity of self-awareness among residents as Yukaghir.
Taisiya Tarabukina, founder of the Multiditec company, spoke about the project implemented within the framework of the State Program "Preservation and Development of state and official languages in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) for 2020-2024". The animation and educational project of 10 episodes is called "Our World", the work was carried out jointly with Lyubov Nikolaevna Demina– a Yukaghir poet, novelist, translator. The series is based on the etymology of words based on poems by L.N. Demina, with young native speakers of the forest and tundra Yukaghir languages participating in the voiceover. Cartoons are available on the "Chokhoon" («Чохоон») video channel.
Natalia Vasiliyevna Sitnikova, director of the Yakut branch of the Federal Institute of Native Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation, presented textbooks on the Yukaghir language from grades 5 to 9, noting that there is not enough funding for the production of these books. At the same time, N.G. Kurilov – Uluro Ado managed to develop a curriculum for the new subject "Yukaghir culture" from 5th to 9th grades together with the branch. At the moment, the program for 9th grades remains to be finalized, where translators into the tundra Yukaghir language are required. An illustrated dictionary of the Yukaghir language for elementary grades has also been developed. A book "Riddles, Proverbs and Tongue Twisters" has been released for young readers, illustrated and voiced by children speaking the tundra Yukaghir language, and a version in forest Yukaghir is expected to be released.
Margarita Petrovna Lukina, Senior Researcher at the Department of Northern Philology at the Institute for Humanitarian Studies and Problems of Indigenous Peoples of the North of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, PhD in Philology, presented the audiovisual fund of the Institute. Last year, the materials for the fund were replenished thanks to the results of expeditions to the village of Andryushkino and the town of Chersky in Nizhnekolymsky ulus. The village of Andryushkino is home to the only Yukaghirs who speak the tundra Yukaghir language. The good news was the announcement of the Yukaghir-Russian dictionary, which is scheduled to be released this year. The dictionary edition has 120 copies, the number of words is approximately three thousand. Authors: Gavril Nikolaevich Kurilov – Uluro Ado, Margarita Petrovna Lukina, Anna Aleksandrovna Pogodaeva.
Another result of the year was the cooperation of the children's magazine Chuoraanchyk («Чуораанчык») and the Association, which published 5 issues, where each issue is dedicated to one indigenous small-numbered people of the North of Yakutia.
Irina Sergeevna Kurilova, editor of the portal of the indigenous peoples of the North "Ilken". She talked about the process and the results of listening to the website of the Ilken portal. On the website, news is published and voiced in the languages of the indigenous peoples of the North and the official languages of Yakutia.
Event guests also heard a speech from a young artist Ekaterina Surzhaninova about the results of her exhibitions in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Ekaterina is from Nizhnekolymsk and her works reflect the spirit of northern culture and respect for the traditions of her ancestors. The exhibitions were held with the support of the Foundation for Indigenous Peoples of the North of the Russian Federation.
The round table was held with musical pauses, where Makar Kurilov sang a soulful song about his homeland in his native language, the brothers tanislav and Nazar Duskulov performed a song in their native language in a traditional style.
The participants of the round table shared their plans for 2025, expecting the same number of implemented projects, new collaborations and events for the preservation and development of the Yukaghir language and culture.
To get acquainted with the projects in detail, the presentations of some participants are available at the link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xUgI7oMGbVGv_J7ylVzCHTbLpt65MwGD?usp=sharing
Asya Konstantinova,
leading specialist of the UNESCO Chair of M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU)