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5. Conclusion Despite some positive
changes in the favour of the Kalmyk language and culture the situation remains grave.
Being legally equal, Kalmyk and Russian are not functionally equal, divided by spheres of
their application: Russian is mainly used in the official, educational, scientific and
informational spheres, while Kalmyk is important in the sphere of national culture and in
small proportion it is used as a household language and only for part of the population it
fulfills educational and informational functions. Of course, the language policy adopted
by the local government and the language planning positively effected the Kalmyk people by
adding to their self-identity, self-esteem, social-connectedness and links with their
heritage, but there are still a lot to be done for the Kalmyk language revival.
Languages are
considered to be highly viable and extremely flexible systems, but following Collin Baker
I would repeat that just as rain forests and whales have become the subject of
environmental protection, so languages may be protected and promoted to effect revival and
reversal. Most of minority languages in Russia find themselves in the dangerous situation,
that's why they need state protection and support. Let us express our hope that the
language legislation in Russia would allow for the possibility of minority languages
promotion and maintenance, and the linguistic situation in the country will change for the
better bringing with itself peaceful coexistence of different linguistic communities in
our multinational society.
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