Languages of Russia
On the territory of the Russian Federation is Russian the dominant language, anywhere the official language. According to estimates by the Ethnologue, over 100 languages from different language families are also spoken.
| The numerically most significant indigenous minorities in Russia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Nationality in: Russ. Federation / federal district / own republic 1 | language | Language family | religion | Share of population in own republic | Historical reference | ||
| Volga Tatars | 5.6 million | 4 million ( Volga ) | 2 million | Tatar | Turkic language | Islam | Tatarstan (52.9%) | Descendants of the Kipchaks , Volga Bulgarians , Tatars and Mongols |
| Bashkirs | 1.7 million | 1.4 million ( Volga ) | 1.2 million | Bashkir | Turkic language | Islam | Bashkortostan (30%, together with Tartars 54%) | closely related to Volga Bulgarians |
| Tschuwaschen | 1.6 million | 1.4 million ( Volga ) | 890,000 | Chuvash | Turkic language | Russian Orthodox | Chuvashia (67.7%) | Descendants of the Volga Bulgarians and other groups |
| Chechens | 1.4 million | 1.3 million ( south ) | 1.0 million | Chechen | northeast Caucasian | Islam | Chechnya (93%) | |
| Mordwinen | 977,000 | 788,000 ( Volga ) | 410,000 | Mordovian | Finno-Ugric | Russian Orthodox | Mordovia (36.2%) | |
| Avars | 814,000 | 785,000 ( south ) | 758,000 | Avar | northeast Caucasian | Islam | Dagestan (29.44%) | |
| Ossetians | 515,000 | 477,000 ( south ) | 446,000 | Ossetian | Iranian | Russian Orthodox , Islam | North Ossetia-Alania (62.70%) | Alans ; about 70,000 in South Ossetia outside Russia |
|
Circassians , 700,000 including Kabardians and Adyge |
(61,000) | 58,000 ( south ) | 50,000 | Kabardian | northwest caucasian | Islam | Karachay Cherkessia (11%, together with Karachay 50%) | The majority expelled to the Ottoman Empire in 1864, today 1.5 million in Turkey |
| (512,000) | 512,000 ( south ) | 499,000 | Kabardian | Islam | Kabardino-Balkaria (48 to 55%, together with Balkars 67%) | |||
| (128,000) | 126,000 ( south ) | 108,000 | Adygean | Islam | Adygea (24%) | |||
| Mari | 604,000 | 512,000 ( Volga ) | 312,000 | Mari | Finno-Ugric | Russian Orthodox | Mari El (43%) | |
| Udmurten | 637,000 | 273,000 ( Volga ) | 461,000 | Udmurt table | Finno-Ugric | Russian Orthodox | Udmurtia (37%) | |
| Buryats | 445,000 | 423,000 ( Siberia ) | 273,000 | Buryat | Mongolian | Buddhism | Buryatia (28%) | |
| Yakuts | 443,000 | 441,000 ( Siberia ) | 432,000 | Yakut | Turkic language | Russian Orthodox | Yakutia (46%) | |
| Komi (Syrian) | 309,000 | 281,000 ( northwest ) | 269,000 | Komi | Finno-Ugric | Russian Orthodox | Komi Republic (35%) | |
| Komi Permyaks | 125,000 | 107,000 ( Volga ) | 80,000 | Russian Orthodox | Komi-Permyak district | |||
| Darginer | 510,000 | 489,000 ( south ) | 425,526 | Dargin | northeast Caucasian | Islam | Dagestan (16.52%) | |
| Crimean Tatars | approx. 500,000 | Kipchak languages | Turkic languages | Islam | Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol (approx. 11–12%) | |||
| Ingush | 413,000 | 392,000 ( south ) | 360,000 | Ingush | northeast Caucasian | Islam | Ingushetia (79%) | |
| Greed | 412,698 | 360,000 ( south ) | 337,000 | Lesgic | northeast Caucasian | Islam | Dagestan (13.07%) | about 300,000 outside of Russia in Azerbaijan |
| Kumyks | 422,000 | 399,000 ( south ) | 366,000 | Kumyk | Turkic language | Islam | Dagestan (14.20%) | |
| Kalmyks | 176,000 | 167,000 ( south ) | 156,000 | Kalmuck | Mongolian | Buddhism | Kalmykia (53%) | closely related to the Oirats ( Mongolia and China ) |
|
Annotation:
1The numbers given under “Nationality” stand for the identification, ie how many citizens of Russia and its autonomous divisions committed themselves to the respective nationality in the 2002 census . In the official statistics, the Mordwinen and Ossetians each have two, and the Komi one splinter group listed separately, but the majority of them live in the same republic.
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Legal situation
According to Article 68.1 of the Russian Constitution, Russian is the official language of the entire Russian Federation. However, under Article 68.2, the republics are permitted to define their own official languages on their territory, which can be used in addition to Russian. In addition, under Article 68.3, Russia guarantees all peoples the right to learn and receive their mother tongue.
The 22 republics of the Russian Federation (including the internationally controversial classification of the Republic of Crimea, which is part of Ukraine under international law and located on the Crimean peninsula ) have defined the following 35 official languages on their territory in addition to Russian:
Autonomous circles
In Russia there are also autonomous districts . These are usually dedicated to a titular people and although they do not have the right to determine their own official language, the language of the people is the language of instruction there, at least in elementary schools, as provided for in Article 68.3 of the Russian Constitution.
Many autonomous circles have recently been dissolved. From the original ten autonomous counties at the time of Russia's independence, only four still exist today. The broken circles are marked with a cross (†).
In addition to Russian, these larger minority languages and official languages / official languages in the republics and autonomous regions, there are more than 100 minority languages in total, around 80 are autochthonous in the territory of Russia . For most of them, there is a teaching and media system.
Individual evidence
- ^ Ethnologue Report for Russian Federation
- ↑ a b Nationality statistics of the Russian census of 2002 (English) ( MS Excel ; 203 kB)
- ↑ The Constitution of the Russian Federation
- ↑ The Dagestani constitution does not specify a specific language as the official language, but elevates "all languages of the peoples of Dagestan" to the official language ( PDF ( Memento of the original of April 2, 2014) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original - and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ), but the listed ones have an officially recognized written language, some smaller ones do not.
- ^ Constitution of the Republic of Karelia
- ↑ Law of the Russian Federation on the Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation
- ^ Karelian Law on Support for the Karelian, Finnish and Wepsi Languages
