Languag revitalization in Russia

[James Crippen]

I have a colleague who is writing her dissertation on Oirat, a
Mongolic language, at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. I just had a
long discussion with her about her native language, Kalmyk, and the
efforts in revitalization both during perestroika and later in the
post-Soviet era. Having looked around previously for information on
revitalization in Russia, I was surprised to hear that there was a
serious revitalization movement that had been going on for so long
because I have never been able to find any meaninful literature on
revitalization in Russia, whether written in Russian or another
language. I've even had comments from Russian linguists that all
Soviet revitalization efforts were essentially propaganda and were
never serious.

So I'm asking the list, hoping that some of you may know something
about revitalization programs in Russia. Have any of you read anything
on the subject? I can't find references to anything, and don't really
know where to look.

I'm encouraging her to take time out from her dissertation to write a
retrospective on her experience in the program as a child and a
summary of her more recent encounters with the Kalmyk revitalization
efforts. The political and social situation of the language as she
describes it seems to be very complex, and information on it would be
invaluable to people working in revitalization in general.

Thanks,
James Crippen