The scientific problem of studying the language of one of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation – the Dolgan – is an urgent task of the humanities. The Dolgan language is one of the little-studied Turkic languages and is currently on the verge of extinction due to the small number of speakers, narrowing of the environment and scope of use. This trend is characteristic not only of the Dolgan language of Taimyr and Yakutia, but also of other indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia, the Arctic and the Far East. The purpose of the article is a retrospective study of the history of the origin of the Dolgan people and their language, as well as a description of its current status and development prospects. The material of the article is published works of domestic and foreign researchers, as well as the author’s own materials collected during expeditions to Taimyr and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in different years. The article uses such research methods as descriptive, comparativehistorical and direct observation of the language situation in the process of long-term practical work with Dolgan students at the Faculty of Peoples of the Far North and the Institute of Peoples of the North of the Herzen State Pedagogical University, as well as at the Department of Northern Philology of the Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University. The article presents a brief outline of the grammar of the Dolgan language, a description of its main phonetic and lexical features. The work takes into account the materials and conclusions of the most important scientific works and educational and methodological works on the Dolgan language. The results of the work are presented in the form of a summary in the short conclusion of the article, which reflects the practical significance and prospects for studying the modern Dolgan language.