What Language Do the Real Evenkis Speak? Discussions around the Nomad Kindergarten

Abstract

The article examines discussions on the ways of language maintenance and, in particular, on setting up a nomadic kindergarten as a means of language revitalization, among indigenous population of the Evenki Municipal District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Relying on the field materials, the author aims at finding out why Evenki leaders have chosen certain model of language revitalization over others. The author comes to the conclusion that this choice might be explained by primordial understanding of language and ethnicity among indigenous peoples. In the situation of language shift this choice does not frequently favour the implementation of adequate language planning.