The linguistic situation among the Ivdel Mansi people

Introduction: the article describes the linguistic situation among the Ivdel (Upper Lozva) Mansi people, a small community residing mostly in the North of the Sverdlovsk Oblast in Russia. The Ivdel Mansi dialect is actively used by speakers of all generations, while other Mansi dialects are spoken almost exclusively by elderly and middle-aged people. The degree of preservation of the language in this group distinguishes them not only among other Mansi groups, but also in general among the majority of the small peoples of Siberia. Objective: to consider the current demographic and sociolinguistic situation among the Ivdel Mansi with geographical reference and detailed mapping and analyze the factors affecting its stability and possible development. Research materials: data collected by linguists and ethnographers over the past 130 years, census results and own field material from the 2021 expedition. Results and novelty of the research: the result of the work is the first in the scientific literature detailed study of the modern linguo-geographical state of the Ivdel dialect, including the level of individual settlements. The number of speakers of the Upper Lozva Mansi dialect continues to decrease. One of the main factors of risk is the fact that all Ivdel Mansi are relatives, which excludes the possibility of intra-group marriages. In this connection Mansi women marry Russian men and raise their children using the Russian language. Acknowledgements : the authors express gratitude to all Mansi informants as well as the anonymous reviewers. This work has been supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Grant №19-78-10139.