Scientists studied linguistic and cultural identity of peoples of Yamal and Yugra

Scientists of Tobolsk pedagogical institute named after Mendeleev conducted expedition travels to populated areas of Yamal and Yugra to reconstruct and preserve linguistic and cultural heritage of indigenous ethnic minorities of Western Siberia. The research was conducted by Guzel Fayzullina, doctor of philology, professor of the department of theory and methodology of elementary and preschool education at the institute.  

Interest in languages of small peoples, especially disappearing ones, is growing in the modern world, as the office of strategic communications of Tyumen State University informs. They include languages of indigenous peoples of Western Siberia — languages of the Siberian Tatars, Mansi, Khanty, Nenets, Selkoup peoples and others. Specifics is that people, who speak related and unrelated languages, are constantly in contact, what can not but influence on change in the language situation. The scientists conducted the expedition to settlements of Yamal and Yugra, including hard-to-reach ones, to preserve the unique folklore of different ethnic groups. The analysis of the material collected by them allowed making a conclusion: despite the fact that rituals and mythology of each nation is an original phenomenon, the centuries-old neighborhood caused interpenetration of certain symbols and traditions of one people in cultures of others. It is possible to find a lot in common in myths and legends of the majority of peoples of Western Siberia, at the same time, total assimilation and leveling of features of original cultures did not happen.  

The project “Linguistic and culturological reconstruction of the ethno-space of Western Siberia” is being implemented with support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. It is aimed at creation of a new product — the linguistic and cultural IT-platform designed to study the ethnic space of dialects of peoples, who live compactly on the territory of populated areas in Tyumen Oblast, Yamal and Yugra, and also Kurgan, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Omsk, Kemerovo regions, Altai Krai and the Altai Republic.