Of all the languages of Russia, Russian is the only official language nationwide.
There are 35 different languages which are considered official languages in various regions
of Russia, along with Russian.
There are over 100 minority languages spoken in Russia today.
History Russian was the sole official language of
the Russian Empire which existed until 1917.
During the Soviet period, the policy toward the languages of the various other ethnic
groups fluctuated in practice.
The state helped develop alphabets and grammar for various languages across the country that
had previously been lacking a written form.
Though each of the constituent republics had its own official language, the unifying role
and superior status was reserved for Russian.
Russian lost its status in many of the new republics that arose following the 1991 dissolution
of the Soviet Union.
In Russia, however, the dominating status of the Russian language continued.
Today, 97% of the public school students of Russia receive their education only or mostly
in Russian, even though Russia is made up of approximately 80% ethnic Russians
Official languages Although Russian is the only federally official
language of the Russian Federation, there are several other officially recognized languages
within Russia's various constituencies – the Constitution of Russia only allows the various
Republics of Russia to establish official languages other than Russian.
The only exception was made when the city of Sevastopol was annexed by the Russian Federation
along with the Republic of Crimea.
This is a list of languages that are official only in certain parts of Russia.
Abaza Adyghe
Aghul Altai
Avar Azerbaijani
Bashkir(see also Law on the language of the people of the Bashkortostan)
Buryat Chechen
Cherkess Chuvash
Crimean Tatar Dargwa
Erzya Ingush
Kabardian Kalmyk
Karachay-Balkar Khakas
Komi Kumyk
Lak Lezgi
Mari Moksha
Nogai Ossetic
Rutul Tabasaran
Tatar Tsakhur
Tuvаn Udmurt
Ukrainian Yakut
Karelia is the only republic of Russia with Russian as the only official language.
Unofficial languages Numerous migrant workers from the near abroad
and other countries live in Russia.
Endangered languages in Russia There are many endangered languages in Russia.
Some are considered to be near extinction and put on the list of endangered languages
in Russia, and some may have gone extinct since data was last reported.
On the other hand, some languages may survive even with few speakers.
Some languages have doubtful data, like Serbian whose information in the Ethnologue is based
on the 1959 census.
Languages near extinction Most numbers are according to Michael Krauss,
1995.
Given the time that has passed, languages with extremely few speakers might be extinct
today.
Since 1997, Kerek and Yugh have become extinct.
Ainu Enets
Tofalar Medny Aleut
Orok Sami, Akkala
Sami, Ter Udege
Votic Yukaghir, Northern
Yukaghir, Southern Other endangered languages
Chukchi Chulym
Erzya Ingrian
Ket Ludian
Moksha Seto
Udmurt Veps
Languages See list of languages of Russia.
See also Languages of the Caucasus
Russification Russian Academy of Sciences, the language
regulator in Russia Japanese language education in Russia
References
External references Languages of European Russia
Languages of Asian Russia Minority languages of Russia on the Net project,
which aims at presenting the languages of Russia to the Web and at facilitating their
usage on the Web Population by mother tongue and districts
in 50 Governorates of the European Russia in 1897