The preservation of endangered languages is a widely discussed issue nowadays. Languages represent essential cultural heritage and can provide valuable botanical, biological, and geographical information. Therefore, it is necessary to develop efficient measures to preserve and revitalize endangered languages. However, the language shift process is complex and requires an interdisciplinary approach, including mathematical modeling techniques. This paper develops a new mathematical model that extends previous works on this topic. We introduce the factor of ethnic identity, which is a proxy for a more complex nexus of variables involved in an individual’s self-identity and/or a group’s identity. This proxy is socially constructed rather than solely inherited, shaped by community-determined factors, with language both indexing and creating the identity. In our model, we divide speakers into groups depending on with which language they identify themselves with. Moreover, every group includes monolinguals and bilinguals. The proposed model naturally allows us to consider cases of language coexistence and describe a broader class of linguistic situations. For example, the simulation results show that our model can result in cyclic language dynamics, drawing a parallel to cell population models. In this way, the proposed mathematical model can serve as a useful tool for developing efficient measures for language preservation and revitalization.

The article analyses the terms that the Chukchi and Koryaks use to define the mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), in relation to traditional conceptions linked to this figure. We also examine the relationships between these terms in the Chukchi language and the Palana, Chavchuven, Alutor and Karagin dialects, using a comparative etymological and ethnolinguistic methodological approach. To this end, we rely on both the classical ethnographic literature related to these peoples and the dictionaries associated with them. Our research has revealed a significant degree of polysemy in the context studied, centred on the figure of the mammoth, leading us to the conclusion that the Chukchi nominal form kamak, originally used by the Koryaks, is relatively recent in defining the mammoth and is largely linked to the trade and transaction of the animal’s ivory. We also show that the notion of ‘beetle’, linked to that of ‘mammoth’ among both the Chukchi and the Koryaks, did not develop etymologically among the Koryaks towards the form it took in Chukchi (təqiŋewət), because the term kamak (or kemek(e)) associated with the notion of horn, probably already fulfilled this semiotic function. Our conclusions demonstrate the importance of considering the figure of the mammoth in a cross-disciplinary way among the peoples concerned, while emphasising the need for further investigation, particularly concerning the functions and conceptions of this figure among the Chukchi and the Koryaks.

The article is devoted to a relevant and under-researched topic of foreign language influence on the Yukaghir language, spoken by one of the smallest ethnic groups in the northeastern part of Siberia, with fewer than 50 speakers, primarily residing in the Low Kolyma and Upper Kolyma regions of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Recent studies have shown that in the Tundra Yukaghir speech, there is a small group of Russian words, the borrowing of which would not have been possible without involvement of the affixal morpheme -laa from Yakut as an intermediary language. It has been established that the use of borrowed Yakut allomorphs -laa, -naa, -daa, -taa in Yukaghir aligns with the final sound of the stem, as in the source language. Based on the degree of assimilation, non-adapted, partially adapted (with assimilation of either the root or the affix), and fully adapted forms with -laa are distinguished, some of which are relatively frequent in the speech of native speakers and are integrated into the grammatical system of the recipient language. From a structuralmorphological perspective, verbs, whether borrowed as complete forms or created by analogy with Yakut word-formation patterns, include nouns, imperative verb forms, and an interjection. The author provides a chronological-frequency analysis, according to which verbs with -laa should be considered phenomena of the Soviet period and the speech strategy of one speaker, although a small number of such lexemes are reflected in a bilingual dictionary. The assimilation of the Yakut affix-laa became possible due to the widespread multilingualism among the Yukaghirs and the structural similarity between the Yukaghir and Yakut languages.

The article studies dialect names of the bear in the Sakha language in terms of word-formation. We analyze more than 140 different Sakha names of the bear collected from various lexicographic sources and from more than 100 native speakers, experts and keepers of the traditional culture of the indigenous and small peoples of Yakutia which were recorded during scientific expeditions since 2017. A significant amount of valuable linguistic material is introduced and analyzed for the first time. The study shows that many dialect names of the bear are based on several groups of motivational features: external – color, shape, other characteristics of the body; behavioral – manner of movement, habits, habitat; anthropomorphism – kinship terms, title lexemes and humanization. A brief etymological analysis shows that in the bear names and the traditional culture of the peoples of Siberia, the North and the Far East, the cult of the bear has a totemic and commercial basis and is traditionally associated with the idea of him as a deity, an ancestor, and a person. The general idea of the bear as a venerable elder is universal for many peoples of Russia.

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.

The article examines the phonetic and morphonological features of the Teleut language in the manuscripts of Siberian researchers from the first third and end of the 17th century. The Teleut language belongs to the central-eastern group of Turkic languages, according to other classifications – to the Siberian Turkic languages, the Kyrgyz-Kipchak languages as one of the southern dialects of the Altai language, in the manuscripts of researchers of Siberia in the first third and the end of the 17th century, on the example of somatisms and the animal world. The aim of the article is to analyze the graphics, orthography, and morphonology of words recorded by P.S. Pallas and designated by him as “Teleut”, in comparison with the modern Teleut language. The source of the vocabulary was P.S. Pallas’s “Comparative Dictionary of All Languages and Dialects,” published in 1790-1791. The basis for synchronous comparison was L.T. Ryumina’s “Teleut-Russian” (1995) and “Russian-Teleut” (2002) dictionaries, as well as the author’s expedition materials. The article uses the method of continuous sampling and the comparative-historical method. Analysis of the vocabulary from Pallas’s dictionaries shows that 77.5 % of the words (31 out of 40 pairs) from the semantic domians “body parts” and “wildlife” retain their identity with the vocabulary of the modern language of the Bachat Teleuts. Of these, 20 pairs are identical in sound composition at the deep morphophonological and superficial phonetic levels. Another 11 pairs have differences including variability of the initial *č-, vowel shift, diphthongization, delabialization, palatalization of final consonants and loss of labial harmony. Lexical discrepancies are also noted: the dropping of one of the parallel forms and the complete loss of words. It is possible that the “Teleut” language in Pallas’s dictionaries encompassed several idioms, in particular, those close to Siberian Tatar.

The scientific problem addressed in this study concerns the need to explore and describe the relationship between language and culture. The relevance of the work stems from the growing interest in linguoculture, aimed at identifying and analyzing linguistic units carrying cultural content. The aim of this research is to develop theoretical and methodological foundations of linguoculturology, as well as to analyze the functioning of linguoculturons in texts of Yakut folk riddles (paroems). This will allow for a deeper understanding of national-cultural features embedded in linguistic units and define the linguocultural field of Yakut riddles. The theoretical basis of the study was provided by various classifications of linguoculturnions proposed by such scholars as V.V. Vorobyov, V.A. Maslova, S.I. Vlahov, and S.P. Florin. The corpus of texts used for analysis consists of Yakut folk riddles from the collection «Yakut Riddles» by S.P. Oyunskaya (1975). Comparative analysis, description, and interpretation methods were applied in the study. Linguocultremas, as units of the linguocultural field, contain both linguistic meaning and cultural sense, making them essential elements for studying the national picture of the world. The results contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of interaction between language and culture, creating prerequisites for further study in the aspect of linguoculturology and practical application in academic environments and educational processes. The study showed that linguocultremas serve as keys to understanding the cultural context – the linguocultural field – in which they originated. Research materials can be utilized for compiling teaching aids and scientific-methodical developments in the field of linguistics.