Traditional Way of Life No Longer Ensures Survival of Native Language for Non-Russians Living Outside Their National Republics, New Study Finds

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 29 – New field research reported by Marina Kutsayeva of the Moscow Institute of Linguistics challenges the widely held view that members of nations who maintain a traditional way of life are far more likely to retain their native language even if they reside outside their non-Russian federal subjects.

            In a new article, she summarizes socio-linguistic studies of members of the Mari nation who live outside Mari El (mariuver.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Kucajeva_M_V-Marijcy_i_ih_jazyk_za_predelami_Respubliki_Marij_El_2024-2025.pdf, discussed at https://mariuver.eu/2026/01/28/kak-zhivet-mariiskj-jazyk-za-predelami-marij-el/).

            This is a critical issue for the Mari because almost half of that Finno-Ugric people live outside the borders of their titular republic. What the latest studies show, she says is that “assimilation is occurring in various federal subjects in an extremely uneven manner and that “a traditional way of life no longer guarantees the preservation of the language.”

            Globalization and digitalization, Kutsayeva says, “are penetrating into the most distance villages through smartphones and the internet, and as a result, native language is beginning to be viewed by the young as an instrument exclusively for communicating with elderly relatives” than as a language of common use.

            She organizes her report around the situation in the federal subjects where Maris are most numerous. Their situation is “most favorable” in Bashkortostan, she says, because the diaspora is large and concentrated in a few regions. And the Mari language continues to be used by middle aged and older Maris.

            But younger Maris have largely stopped using their native language, and in most rural schools, even in kindergartens, it is ceasing to be the language of instruction. The only factor keeping young Maris in their national linguistic fold is religion. Those who follow the Mari traditional faith retain the language far more than do others.

            In Tatarstan, the situation of the Maris and their language is relatively good. In contrast to most other federal subjects, Mari remains a language of instruction and in others, it is taught up to three hours a week, not a lot it would seem but more than most places and something that is helping to keep the language alive.

            Indeed, Kutsayeva says, schools in Tatarstan are helping the Maris in many ways, even becoming centers of cultural “revitalization.” One result of this is that Mari parents when given the choice as to the language of instruction for their children choose Mari rather than Russian, a sharp contrast with what happens elsewhere.

            In Sverdlovsk Oblast, a primarily ethnic Russian region, the situation of the Mari language is generating “serious concern.” Most Maris under 35 do not use their native language regularly except in conversations with older relatives. The treatment of the Mari language in schools depends heavily on the attitudes of the local school directors.

            But in another predominantly ethnic Russian region, Kirov Oblast, the situation of the Mari language has become “most critical.” There, Maris under the age of 50 to 55 do not use it, most Maris have fled to the cities where they speak Russian exclusively, and young Maris have a tendency to view the Mari language as “foreign.”

            In that predominantly ethnic Russian region, Kutsayeva says, Mari is treated by many as “a secret language” spoken only by the elderly. This situation is so dire that linguists are now calling for the documentation of Mari dialects before they completely disappear and cannot be recorded.