Studies in linguistic andcultural diversity atLomonosov Moscow StateUniversityAchievements, challenges,and prospects
Sergei Tatevosov
Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics
Faculty of Philology
Lomonosov Moscow State University

AchievementsState of the art before 2020 at Lomonosov Moscow State
University (MGU, for short)
Linguistic diversity:
Faculty of Philology, Department of Theoretical andApplied Linguistics
Cultural diversity:
Faculty of History, Department of Ethnology

Achievements

Faculty of History, Dept. of Ethnology A tradition of studies in ethnography, social, cultural,and applied anthropology going back to the late 19thcentury

 A wide array of topics in intercultural interactions, social,cultural and religious identity, ethnic psychology,
normative social practices, nationalism studies,migration studies, studies in post-Soviet transformations

 The scope of studies includes cultures of the peoples ofSiberia, Caucasus, Volga region, Central Asia, Far East

Achievements

Faculty of Philology, Dept. of Theoretical and AppliedLinguistics
 Program in documentation of the languages spoken

in Russia and former USSR Collective fieldwork expeditions; up to 3 expeditionsevery year A team of linguists consisting of up to 20-25 members
 Every member focuses on a specific topic in thegrammar of a language

Achievements

Alexander Kibrik(1939 - 2012),
the person whoestablished the programin 1967

Achievements

The very beginning: 1967, Lak (< Nakh-Daghestanian)Achievements

Source: https://water-rf.ru

(Almost) the very beginning:
1971, Alyutor (< Chukotko-Kamchatkan),
Vyvenka village, Kamchatka

Achievements

Achievements

These days (August 2021):
Fieldwork on Karachay-Balkar (<Turkic < Altaic)
Nastya Voznesenskaya, an MGU graduate student
Askhat Atabiev, a teacher of physics at the local high school

Achievements

In between 1967 and 2021
 Almost 100 fieldwork expeditions
 More than 800 participants About 70 languages of all linguistic families
represented in Russia and former USSR About 20 monographs
 More than 700 papers in linguistic journals and edited
volumesAchievements


The first major publication: agrammatical description of
Khinalug (< Lezgic < NakhDaghestanian, 1972)Кибрик А. Е., Кодзасов С. В., Оловянникова И.
П. Фрагменты грамматики хиналугского языка
[Components of the Grammar of Khinalug]
Khinalug]. М.:Изд.:Изд--воМосковского унун-та,та, 1972.

Achievements

Recent monographs:
Grammatical descriptionsof Mishar Tatar (< Turkic,2017) and Moksha(<Finnic < Uralic, 2018)Элементы татарского языка втипологическом освещении [Elements ofTatar in a typological perspective] / Ред.
Ред.
С.Г. Татевосов и др.
др. М., 2017Элементы мокшанского языка втипологическом освещении [Elements ofMoksha in a typological perspective] / Ред.
Ред.
С.Ю. Толдова и др.
др. М., 2018

AchievementsKhinalug,
Northern Azerbaijan
Moksha,Volga Region
Tatar, Mishar dialect,
Volga Region

Challenges


Russia has gone through a chain of major socialtransformations, specifically, in the past 20-30 years.
What is the cultural distance between traditionalsocieties as described by cultural and social
anthropologists in the 20th century and their modern
counterparts?

Challenges



Source: pinterest.de

Buryat male shaman,
early 20th century

Challenges

Buryat, a Mongoliclanguage spoken in theterritories around theBaikal lake and in
Northern Mongolia

Challenges

Sanzhidma Mangutova
in a shaman dress,
Republic of Buryatia,
2014

Challenges
One can convince oneself that the people in the twopictures fall under the same culture. But do they?

Challenges


Cultural identity faces linguistic pressure.
Most languages spoken in Russia are (more orless) seriously endangered.

Challenges
Language vitality: EGIDS scale (Lewis and Gary 2010)Challenges
Institute of Linguistic, Russian Academy of Sciences,
the “Languages of Russia” project
http://jazykirf.iling-ran.ru/
 Type 0: safe Type 1a: endangered languages
 Type 1b: definitely endangered languages
 Type 2: severely endangered languages
 Type 3: critically endangered, nearly extinct

languages

Challenges


Languages of Russia

Type 0149,2%

Type 1а

3019,7%

Type 1b6442,1%

Type 2

1912,5%

Type 32516,5%

Total

152

100%

Source: http://jazykirf.iling-ran.ru/list_concept2020.shtml

Challenges


Languages mentionedabove Lak: type 1a Alyutor: type 2
 Karachay-Balkar: type1a
 Khinalug: n/a
 Moksha: type 1a Buryat: type 1a

Challenges
This assessment may be too optimistic, however
Most of the languages discussed here are going throughlanguage shift that leads to the interruption ofintergenerational transmission of a language

Challenges

Sanzhidma: a fluent L1
Buryat speaker
Darima, hergranddaughter:an L1 Russian speaker,
a heritage Buryat speakerProspectsGiven the challenges our dissciplines are facing, linguists
and enthologists should work together to make sure that
cultural and anthropological studies are linguisticallywell-informed, while linguistic studies take into accountcrucial information about social and culturalenvironment.

ProspectsLomonosov Moscow State University is currently buildingup a unique environment for interdisciplinary
collaboration.
In 2020, six Interdisciplinary Research and Education
schools were established
On of these schools is School for Preservation of theWorld Cultural and Historical Heritage

Prospects


School for Preservation of the World
Cultural and Historical Heritage

Prospects
Part of the School is the project entitled “Languages andCultures of the Indigenous Peoples of Russia: Models ofstructural analysis”

The team of 35 scholars, both faculty members andgraduate students

Faculty of Philology

Dept. of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics
 Colleagues from a few other departments

Faculty of History

Dept. of Ethnology
 History of Migration and Diasporas LaboratoryProspects


Agenda Collecting and analyzing extensive data on thelanguages and cultures of Siberia, Volga region,
Caucasus and Far North Developing a framework for interdisciplinary research
at MGU Building up educational programs at theundergraduate and graduate levels
 Establishing collaboration with research institutes ofthe Russian Academy of Science and regional
research centers that focus on revitalization of thelanguages of Russia

Prospects
MA program: “Languages and Cultures of the Indigenous
Peoples of Russia: Models of structural analysis”
 Excerpts from the curriculumTheory of Language
 Linguistic diversity
 Languages of Russia
 Mathematical methods in linguistic studies
 Population of Russia: demography, ethnic and confessional
identity Customary law of the indigenous peoples of Russia
 Peoples of Siberia: dynamics of cultural evolution
 Ethnography of the peoples of the Caucasus
ProspectsSuming up: achievements, challenges, and prospects

For linguistic and cultural studies, prospects of success inaccomplishing the above goals require combining ourachievements and facing challenges together
A lot of inspiring work is ahead!

Thank you!

Contact Info
Sergei Tatevosov
Dept. of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics
Faculty of Philology, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Address: 119991 Москва, Ленинские горы, 1, с. 51, МГУ, филологическийфакультет, кафедра теоретической и прикладной лингвистики
Phone: +7 495 939 2601
E-mail: tatevosov@gmail.com
Web-site: http://tipl.philol.msu.ru/index.php/department/faculty/SGT