Program “International Mother Language Day. On the occasion of the Day of Dagestan Culture and Languages, Day of Mother Languages in Dagestan
More than half of the world’s 6,900 languages are listed in a kind of “Red Book”. According to UNESCO, every month two languages disappear on earth. All (!) languages of Dagestan are also endangered. The day before International Day native language, which is celebrated on February 21, “AiF-Dagestan” remembered the multilingualism of the republic.
Non-identical Dagestan
It is hardly possible to find another territory with such a complex interweaving of languages as Dagestan. Even among Arab medieval geographers, Dagestan was known not only as the “country of mountains,” but also as the “mountain of languages.”
Help AiF-Dagestan
In total, linguists in Dagestan registered 32 independent language. And these languages, most recently, were recognized by the head of Dagestan as official in the relevant law. The head of Dagestan, Ramazan Abdulatipov, in one of his recent speeches recalled that “in the Avar language, the native language means “milk language,” that is, “the language of your mother’s milk.” Thus, naturally, in Dagestan, many native languages are understood less and less. According to UNESCO, in There are 25 languages in the republic that are in danger of extinction. Some languages are spoken by only a few thousand or even a few hundred people.Within one language there are many dialects. For example, the author of this article is Dargin by nationality. Originally from a village in which the original Dargin language absorbed the words and grammar of Avar, Tabasaran and a number of other languages."Literary" Dargin simply will not understand the author’s dialect, although they both belong to the same language group.
Big problems of small nations
And there are countless such examples in Dagestan. The current time is the most difficult for Dagestan and its languages. The younger generation uses their national dialect less and less in everyday speech.
In order to restore these gaps and help languages survive for another year, recitation competitions are regularly held in all educational institutions on February 21 in Dagestan, open lessons. But the problem cannot be solved in schools alone, experts say. Linguists believe that what is important in this work is the use of the national language by parents in conversations with children. Only then will Dagestan be able to preserve its linguistic flavor and uniqueness.
Jackie is not a name, it's a nation
Preservation of endangered languages and peoples speaking rare dialects is the most important work that needs to be carried out in the region every day. One of the nationalities on the verge of extinction, the Jacks (or Jacklins), live on the border territory of Southern Dagestan and Northern Azerbaijan. According to the head of the Department of History of Dagestan of the Faculty of History of DSU Abdulkadyr Omarov, jacks are the so-called. a “sub-ethnic” group of Kryz, living in several villages of the Magarmkent and Akhtyn regions of the Republic of Dagestan, as well as in the Kuba and Khachmas regions of the Azerbaijan Republic, in the cities of Baku and Sumgait.
“Jacks speak the dialect of the Lezgin language,” says Naida Sultanmuradova, associate professor, senior lecturer of the department Dagestan languages Faculty of Philology of DSU. - Jacks have a non-written language. All Jacks are multilingual, with the majority of the population speaking three or more languages. However, languages interethnic communication for Jacks are Lezgin and Azerbaijani.”
My tongue is my friend
Interesting facts about some Dagestan languages were also given by Nina Sumbatova, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Educational and Scientific Center for Linguistic Typology of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities:
“We are studying the Dargin language. This is one of the largest languages of Dagestan - it is spoken by over half a million Dagestanis. The problem with it is the following. In fact, this is not a language, but a group of languages, and the relationship between them is very distant. The Dargin dialects collapsed over two thousand years ago, and accordingly the relationship between them is less than even between the Slavic languages.
And the similarity between some of them is simply impossible to notice with the naked eye. When we were in Dagestan, this also happened to us: we came from one village to another, and sometimes in each village we met at least a new dialect. Sometimes the language of one village was so different from another that I wanted to call it a new language. Often, the Dargins of one region do not understand well the speech of the Dargins of another, even a neighboring region.”
The range of problems facing each Dagestani nationality is wide. Preserving the native language, not losing unique dialects and dialects is just a drop in that sea of linguistic and historical issues, the solution of which still remains a difficult task. It is most often almost impossible to stop processes in which every single one is involved.
Have the authorities placed the right emphasis on the issue of preserving native speech?
The issue of preserving native languages in Dagestan has never ceased to be relevant. In the context of the wide linguistic diversity characteristic of the republic, the preservation and development of native speech is a priority, although it is extremely difficult.
One of the reasons for the problem is unequal rights between speakers different languages in Dagestan. For example, the languages of the Avars and Azerbaijanis have official status and full support of the regional authorities, while the Andean and Tsez languages do not have official status, these languages are not taught in schools, as if these languages do not exist at all.
On the other hand, the autochthonous languages of the republic were left alone with common problem– Russification, which is rapidly affecting Dagestan society. This trend affects absolutely everyone – from Avars and Lezgins to Tsakhurs and Karata residents.
The transition of the population to the Russian language is to a large extent associated with the decline in the prestige of their native speech. IN modern life Especially in cities, young people are increasingly realizing that they can do without their native language, the main thing is to know Russian and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to know another foreign language.
In addition, one cannot help but say about the school - teaching native languages has become a formality, the level of many teachers does not even meet the minimum requirements, children study using old textbooks, which are noticeably in short supply, and many necessary teaching materials are missing.
These and many other problems in the field of preservation and development of linguistic diversity in Dagestan should be the front of mandatory work for the republican government. However, recent statements by the authorities indicate that people in Dagestan have little idea of what should be done with languages.
The languages of Dagestan are under threat
Thus, on October 10, the head of the Ministry of national policy Dagestan Tatiana Gamaley stated that of the 32 languages recorded in the republic ( we're talking about about the languages of the “titular” peoples, including Russian, Azerbaijani and Chechen) 18 are on the verge of extinction. As the official explained, these languages are unwritten ( in fact, writing has been created for the majority, there are dictionaries - approx. FLNKA) and have a small number of carriers. At the same time, in her opinion, nothing threatens the 14 literary languages.
However, on October 21, the head of the Ministry of Nationalities of Dagestan said that in Dagestan there is a shortage of textbooks for studying local languages. According to her, there are textbooks for 14 languages, but there are few of them, and most of them are completely outdated. In addition, she noted the shortage of authors capable of creating high-quality textbooks. The minister also included the need to comply with the VGOS as a problem, which involves certification and licensing of textbooks, conducting special examinations, and this creates additional complexity in the presence of 14 languages.
It is noteworthy that in both the first and second cases, Tatyana Gamaley avoids the question of increasing the number literary languages in Dagestan, which inevitably arises. It is obvious that languages that are threatened with extinction need status, recognition and government support. However, judging by the minister’s rhetoric, she does not care at all.
Tatiana Gamaley
Deputy Director of the Derbent Foundation, Vice President of FLNKA Amil Sarkarov in a conversation with a correspondent of the Lezgin autonomy, he shared his opinion on the current situation:“In my opinion, to effectively solve the problem of small laws, it is necessary to cancel the absurd resolution of the State Council of the Republic of Dagestan “On Indigenous Minorities of the Republic of Dagestan” of 2001 and adopt a separate republican law on them.
To the list of indigenous small peoples more than two dozen communities should be included, the number of each of which is less than 50 thousand people. Obtaining such a status for these peoples would make it possible to solve not only linguistic, but also other problems that are relevant to them.”.
Will books and holidays save native languages?
To be fair, we note that the minister does offer something. Thus, according to Gamaley, the Center for the Study of the Native Languages of the Republic operates at the DSU. She does not specify what exactly he is doing, making a reservation only about a number of events in 2017 within the framework of the Federal Target Program for the Support of Native Languages. True, this looks like a formal need to report to Moscow.
On October 21, the Republic celebrated the Day of Dagestan Culture and Languages for the second time. The holiday is undoubtedly necessary. By this date, the Center, together with the Ministry of Nationalities, published seven new books in the languages of the peoples of Dagestan: “Russian-Agul and Agul-Russian dictionary”, “Dictionary of Kumyk proverbs and sayings”, “Karatin tales”, “Archinsky folklore material”, “Tabasaran proverbs and sayings”, “Modern Agul language” and “Speaking Tabasaran”.
In addition, especially for the celebration, the Ministry of Nationalities of the Republic of Dagestan presented an information and analytical guide to the languages of the peoples of Dagestan, which contains data on the languages of the indigenous peoples of the republic and the history of their study in domestic linguistics, including information on their lexicographic description, materials on the results of monitoring student enrollment teaching native languages in urban schools of the republic.
The day before the holiday in Dagestan, in five Russian regions of Russia where large communities of Dagestanis live, as well as in Belarus, a total dictation was held in 14 languages of the peoples of Dagestan.
“Creating language centers, holding holidays and total dictations themselves are certainly important. But the only thing that can truly help languages in the current situation is to gain full status official language with the ensuing regulatory and legal framework that guarantees its implementation at the republican and local levels", - emphasized Amil Sarkarov.
Igor Barinov
Bilingualism: good or evil?Head of the Federal Agency for Nationalities Affairs Igor Barinov proposed to introduce the practice of teaching subjects in primary school in two languages - Russian and national.
“It is difficult to implement this in Dagestan, not only due to the fact that it will be necessary to create appropriate learning programs and benefits.
The main problem is bilingualism. If in a rural school there are still native speakers of native languages, having mastered the Russian language in primary school, and then switch to learning it, then in cities, children, on the contrary, almost don’t know their native language and have no motivation to master it.
And all because the functionality of the languages is not fixed, they are not official, that is, mandatory even at the local level.”, - Amil Sarkarov commented on the initiative of the head of FADN.
The Association of Avar Language Teachers has canceled events dedicated to the Day of Dagestan Culture and Languages.
We believe that in today’s situation surrounding the study of the native language and the teacher of the native language, only empty words are heard about its importance and necessity. After all, language is the basis of a people’s culture. And we don’t understand the meaning of these holidays and events, where they talk about the importance and necessity of the languages of the peoples of Dagestan, when things are completely at odds with these words.
The situation with the native languages of the peoples of Dagestan is catastrophic. It is derogatory to native languages. Each head of an educational institution disposed of this subject, which is a mandatory part of the curriculum, as he pleases, without even properly studying the laws and the Federal State Educational Standard. There are schools that have increased the hours allocated for native languages to 0.5. This is two lessons per month. One is the native language, one is the native literature. What's on these leaders' minds? educational organizations? Why are they not guided by the versions of the exemplary curricula of the Federal state standards when compiling Curriculum? Are many schools in the republic run by such illiterate directors? Or many of them feel such hatred for the language and culture of their people that they mercilessly cut the allotted hours of their native languages, contrary to the allotted number of hours per week. In many districts or cities, textbooks of native languages were confiscated, citing the fact that they did not comply with the Federal State Educational Standard. Who is to blame for the fact that we have not been provided with textbooks for many years? Then give us, in place of the old and unusable, new ones that comply with federal educational standards, we will be happy to work on them. Otherwise, what is the point in pompous words, holidays, events, dedicated to language and culture.
No matter what they said or promised, nothing has changed to date. A republic without textbooks of native languages included in the Federal List and corresponding to the Federal State Educational Standard. How can you teach without a textbook? There is no hope for the DNII of Pedagogy as long as the current leadership there is far from the problems of native languages.
Schools without qualified mother tongue teachers.
The attitude towards teachers and native language lessons is secondary.
We celebrate holidays every year, and on these days we talk about how important it is to know one’s native language, culture, and history of a people. But nothing changes. The holiday was celebrated - ticked.
We call on the leadership of the republic, ministries, departments, research institutes, the public, anyone who can help in any way, to pay attention to this issue and finally begin to act. We are tired of empty words and promises. Give us textbooks methodological literature. Provide us with at least part of what teachers of other subjects are provided with. Create conditions for us that are at least similar to other subjects.
And we will celebrate later.
, which translated means .
“Zhulamur zhula zhiplivu” , which means "Everything is in our pockets" .
Therefore, learn your native languages, communicate more with your loved ones and family. After all, this is how you can see all the beauty of your national language.
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Every day the Dagestan languages are losing their relevance, so there is a high probability that they will join the ranks of extinct languages. According to UNESCO, 25 Dagestan languages are in danger of extinction. The Dagestan languages are especially neglected by the younger generation, who are interested in learning foreign languages. But should we forget about the uniqueness of our native language? Of course not, because the Dagestan languages are no less interesting and entertaining. In addition, they have amazing features that the wearer should definitely know about.
Since 2000, it has been customary to celebrate International Mother Language Day on February 21 to support linguistic and cultural diversity. This holiday should have special significance for the residents of Dagestan, because our republic has no less than 40 languages and 120 dialects. Of these, only 14 languages have written language.
Dagestan languages are divided into 4 main language groups, which belong to the Nakh-Dagestan language family.
The Avar language is close in structure to the Andean language, and is based on the dialect of the Khunzakh language.
The dialects of this language have diverged so far that residents of different Avar villages will not be able to understand each other. Therefore, for mutual understanding, representatives of this nationality rely specifically on the literary Avar language.
One of the most difficult phrases to pronounce is “Mikyazaralda, miknusiyalda, unkoyalda mikgo kwerk k’vakvadoleb buk!ana kyoda g’ork” , which translated means "8888 frogs croaked under the bridge" .
Dargin languages are distinguished by their numerous dialects, which later transformed into independent languages.
Thus, these include the Kubachi, Megeb, and Kaitag languages.
Given in itself language group so extensive that it is often compared with the Romance and Germanic groups of languages. In total, there are about 12-13 varieties of the Dargin language. Speakers of this language consider their speech to be a dialect of the main literary Dargin language, with the exception of the Kubachi people, who prefer to classify themselves as a separate ethnic group. Between villages, Dargins mainly communicate in Russian.
The literary Lak language is based on the Kumukh dialect. The district of the same name is historical center Laks. There are 9 more dialects of the Lak language that differ from each other 
morphological or phonetic changes.
In total, there are about 146 thousand people who speak the Lak language.
The sound of the Lak language is often compared to French. This is especially noticeable when pronouncing the phrase “Zhulamur zhula zhiplivu” , which means "Everything is in our pockets" .
Lezgin languages include languages that have become independent. Among them are Agul, Archin, Rutul, Tabasaran, Tsakhur and other languages.
The Tabasaran language is notable for its case system. The language has 46 different cases, including 40 local cases. In the northern dialect, the Tabasaran language has 2 grammatical classes of names: the class of intelligent beings and the class of irrational beings and objects, while in the southern dialect there are no grammatical classes of names.
In addition to these languages, there are up to 40 languages in Dagestan, and there are twice as many dialects. It is very difficult to list and describe each of them, but in the following you can see some interesting details about other Dagestan languages.
Now the most important thing is not to lose your national flavor and strive to study both your own and other foreign languages. This is how every person will be able to broaden their horizons, delve deeper into a foreign culture, while not forgetting their nationality.
February 21 is International Mother Language Day. In addition to it, in 2016, on the initiative of the Head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov, the Day of Dagestan Culture and Languages was established in the republic, which is celebrated on October 21 for the second year.
Mother Language Day, which is an international holiday, is not only an opportunity to attend a festival at the Avar Theater, a concert at the Lak Theater, a Kumyk language evening at the Poetry Theater and many other events. This is an occasion to remember the problems of preserving Dagestan languages. The massive resettlement of residents of mountain villages to the capital and other cities of Dagestan, the refusal of hundreds of schools in the republic to teach in their native language - all this does not contribute to children knowing and studying the language of their ancestors.
Center for the Study of Native Languages
In December 2016, on the initiative of the Ministry of National Policy of the Republic of Dagestan on the basis of the Dagestan state university The Center for the Study of Native Languages was created. As Tatyana Gamaley, Minister of National Policy of the Republic of Dagestan, noted, the ministry sees two main directions of the center: information and propaganda, which increases the value perception of young people about their native languages, and the collection of a database on languages, especially those that are in danger of extinction.
According to the rector of Daggosuniversity, Murtazali Rabadanov, the best specialists in the field of linguistics, as well as students, will be involved in the creation of the center’s database. “The Ministry of National Policy of the Republic does a lot to preserve and develop native languages and culture. The creation of such a center is a vivid example of this, and I am glad that we are doing it together with the ministry,” he emphasizes.
Head of the center, Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of Theoretical and applied linguistics DSU Marina Gasanova says that the center’s objectives are to promote the preservation and development of the languages of the peoples of the republic, popularize the study of native languages, Dagestan literature and spiritual culture, develop innovative technologies teaching native languages, publishing educational and methodological literature, etc.
Particular attention is also paid to the creation of a data bank of written and unwritten languages of Dagestan and their dialects on paper, audio and video media. First of all, the issue of preserving the unwritten languages of Dagestan, creating an alphabet, alphabets and the first textbooks is raised.
Another goal of the center is to promote native languages among students and youth. Philology students at the Center will undergo internships on expeditions, where they will study the languages and dialects of the local population.
The center took part in organizing a competition of fairy tales, traditions and legends in the Karatino language among schoolchildren in a number of villages in the Akhvakh region, and began work on the projects “Audiobooks in native languages” and “Russian fairy tales in native languages”, the main performers of which are students and undergraduates. A series of phrase books will be released on national languages. It is planned to open a School of Young Linguists. This year, dictionaries of proverbs and sayings will be published in Agul, Tsakhur, Archin languages with translation into Russian. The section of Turkic languages will publish a dictionary of Kumyk proverbs and sayings. The center has established close ties with the Ministry of Education and Science of the republic, with the city administration, schools and universities. The organization traditionally serves on the jury at competitions " Best teacher native language”, “Best reader of a poem in the native language”, etc.
Round table on unwritten languages of Dagestan
On February 18, a round table was held dedicated to the problems of preserving, studying and developing the unwritten languages of Dagestan, organized by the Center for the Study of Native Languages. The event was attended by scientists from DSU, DGPU, DSC RAS, representatives of the Ministry of National Policy of the Republic of Dagestan and the administration of the Akhvakh region, as well as undergraduates from the Russian-Dagestan department of the Faculty of Philology of DSU.
The main issue on the agenda was the development of a strategy for the preservation and study of unwritten languages.
Together with the free society "Karata" a competition of fairy tales, legends and traditions was held among schoolchildren. Work is underway to process folklore material and translate it. But a major problem for publishing is the lack of consistency in writing. Therefore, the round table participants paid special attention to the Karata language. Professor of the DSPU Rashidat Khalidova spoke about the main theoretical works devoted to the Karata language. “To preserve the language, it is necessary, first of all, to accumulate material: a primer, small collections of fairy tales. Of course, it is necessary to popularize the native language among children, because they are its future speakers,” she emphasized.
Professor of the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics of DSU Patimat Magomedova shared her experience of working with unwritten language. She researched the Andean language within the framework of the European grant “Revival of the culture of the Andean ethnic group through the revival of the language.” One of the projects she has implemented is the release of the publication “Fairy Tales of the Peoples of the World in the Andean Language,” supplemented by a disc with audio recordings. Children will be able not only to read, but also to listen to their native speech, improving their language skills.
To the law “On the languages of the peoples of Dagestan”
Maksud Gadzhiev, author-compiler of the “Anthology of Akhvakh Poetry,” said that the problem of unwritten languages will not be solved until the Law of the Republic of Dagestan “On the languages of the peoples of Dagestan” is adopted, which the head of the Republic of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov spoke about at the beginning of 2014. “The draft law has long passed two readings in the People’s Assembly, and I don’t understand what is preventing the recognition of the Ando-Tsez group of languages that are spelled out in this draft,” noted Maksud Gadzhiev.
The scientific secretary of the Institute of Geothermal Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, writer Said Ninalalov, stated his categorical disagreement with the adoption of the crude law “On the languages of the peoples of Dagestan”, from which mention of the Kubachi and Kaitag languages was dropped. The Kubachi language has always been considered independent. And in 1938, during the time of the “great scientist who knew a lot about linguistics,” Joseph Stalin, the Kubachi and Kaitag languages were ranked among their related Dargin language. And throughout the history of Soviet power, when mentioning the Dargin language, scientists made a postscript: “including Kubachi and Kaitag.”
“A road map is needed - we must know how, step by step, to achieve recognition of the Kubachi language as a separate language. We have an alphabet, a primer, art publications, books about folklore in the Kubachi language. What prevents us from recognizing our language as separate? It is also necessary to pay attention to the law “On the Small Indigenous Peoples of Dagestan”, which does not work, since all 14 titular peoples of the republic are recognized as small – from Russian and Azerbaijani to Tsakhur and Chechen,” said Said Ninalalov.
Also speaking at the round table were the head of the department of Dagestan languages of the DSU Musa Bagomedov, the head of the department of English philology of the DSU Khaibat Kadachieva, the chairman of the free society "Karata" Khaibula Khaibulaev, the head of the department of national policy of the Ministry of Nationalities of the Republic of Dagestan Alexander Gadzhiev, the representative of the administration of the Akhvakh district Raisat Abdulbasirova, the associate professor of the department of Dagestan languages and Archin language specialist Raisat Magdilova and others.
The round table participants came to a common opinion that the problems of preserving, studying and developing native languages should be a matter of concern for government agencies different levels, both scientific and educational institutions, and funds mass media. Dagestan is a linguistically unique place, and our duty is to preserve its ethnocultural diversity.