Preservation of minority languages and economic factors (using the example of Tatar and Karelian languages)

Abstract

This article argues the importance of studying the economic factors that influence the preservation of minority languages and language choice. Economic and sociolinguistic methods of studying the relationship between minority language proficiency and labor income are considered. The empirical research is made within the framework of an approach close to the ethnography of language policy, i.e. through the prism of personal, subjective views and assessments of “ordinary” people. The empirical case is made up by two republics of the Russian Federation — Tatarstan and Karelia. The material was the data of sociolinguistic surveys, interviews and ethnographic observations collected in these regions in 2021 and 2022. The empirical analysis revealed both the absence of the influence of minority language competence on income, and the presence of spheres and economic niches where such an influence exists. Employment opportunities, earnings and part-time work are available in these republics in the field of science, culture, media, and creative industries. The research also revealed the role of economic factor in the hierarchy of people’s needs. The needs of (linguistic) identity, the desire to preserve “language and roots” take the second place until the basic needs that push people to choose the language of “bread and job” are satisfied. At the end, the article outlines the directions for further research on the relationship between the economic factor and minority languages.