III. Methods

Between June 23, 2015 and July 8, 2015, a survey was conducted related to the research question (How did the Mordvin languages become endangered and can promoting them in education in Mordovia save them?). This survey was conducted because opinions on whether education could save the languages (especially from ethnic Erzyans and Mokshans) were necessary findings. Surveys in general are also useful because it allows one to gather data on people’s attitudes and beliefs, confirm facts relating to demographics, and are also useful in collecting data on the behavioral patterns of certain groups of people and these could reveal trends and how these trends are relatable to known facts (Creswell, 2003, p. 8). The participants of this survey (Appendix 1) were randomly selected people on the Internet and in Japan who matched the criteria of the people targeted for this survey: Uralic peoples (especially the Mordvin peoples—Erzyans and Mokshans), other non-Russian peoples from the Post-USSR, ethnic Russians, and experts on Uralic peoples/languages or Post-USSR minorities (although the latter group was only necessary to provide an educated opinion). These groups were chosen because these peoples have or have had similar situations of language endangerment and/or have had debates on education connected with their languages occur in their countries/regions (an example being the situation in Udmurtia which is described in detail by (Bulatova, Font, & Protassova, 2014)). The survey was conducted via distributing a word document with 10 questions on one page with two more pages containing Russian and Hungarian translations attached (these languages were chosen because Russian remains the lingua franca of most Post-USSR nations and because Hungarian is the most widely spoken Uralic language) in groups on VKontakte related to Erzya and Moksha as well as language-related groups on Facebook. One ethnic Russian and one Kyrgyz were also questioned in person. Ethnic Russian respondents were the most difficult to find despite having the largest and most globally widespread population out of the target groups with only 16 respondents. Mordvinic peoples were difficult to find at first but eventually, due to the kindness of Erzyan journalists and a prominent VKontakte user in Saransk, responses from 29 Mordvinic (16 Erzyans and 13 Mokshans) were gathered. Ultimately, 90 respondents were found, mostly on VKontakte (Appendix 2).

IV. Findings

Figure 1 (n=90)

In this section, results for the survey will be described and responses to specific questions will be given particular attention. The questions that will receive more attention are the ones that are most relevant to the question of whether the Mordvin languages can be saved as they focus on the opinions of the people, the power of the Russian language, and the people’s view on using education to expand the usage of Erzya and Moksha.

According to the results of the survey, the majority of respondents appeared to be in favor of the Mordvin languages being saved and/or gave positive answers regarding their future prospects. An example of this can be seen in the results of question 10 (Do you believe Erzya and Moksha can be saved from extinction?), which is displayed in Figure 2, where most respondents selected options that expressed either optimism or neutrality. Moreover, only three respondents answered negatively and two of these respondents were ethnic Russian (the other one a Mokshan) and the fact that many ethnic Russians answered in a positive sense directly contrasts sources that imply that these languages are usually a

Figure 2 (n=90)

voided by non-Erzyans and non-Mokshans (Khromovа, Mityakina, 2013; Sanukov, 1993).

Another observation that can be made is that the vast majority of the respondents are fluent in Russian (Figure 3). While this is to be expected, considering the targeted groups, it should be noted that many of the “Other Uralic” respondents do not know Russian at all and this indicates that the predominance of Russian only effects Uralic nations that are still under Russian administration (as most of the “Other Uralic” respondents were Hungarian or Estonian, nations who were taught Russian in school as a mandatory subject for decades but are now no longer obligated to know Russian). This also shows that a nation once under Russian domination could experience a decrease in the share of Russophones in a span of time as short as two decades (as Hungary and Estonia have been outside of the Eastern Bloc since the 1990s).

Figure 3 (n=90)

Another noteworthy observation that can be made from the survey results is numbers gathered for responses to question eight (In the event the presence of Erzya and Moksha is increased in schools in Mordovia, should learning these languages be made mandatory?) which is displayed in Figure 4. The majority of respondents declared in their responses that they were in favor of Erzya and Moksha being made mandatory in schools for Erzyans and Mokshans themselves (roughly half of these respondents also supported the idea that in it should be made available as an elective for non-Erzyans and non-Mokshans). The option of having the languages be available only as electives was also popular. The option of making the languages mandatory for all students in Mordovia or all non-Russian s

Figure 4 (n=90)

tudents was surprisingly unpopular.

Other observations that can be made from the survey results include the relatively large number of Erzyans and Mokshans who answered that they have knowledge of their native language (only five answered that they didn’t know Erzyan or Mokshan). Moreover, Erzyan respondents were more numerous than Mokshans and also more likely to answer that they were proficient in Erzya as well as more likely to support the mandatory teaching of Erzyan and Mokshan in schools in Mordovia.

Overall, from these results we can observe that the Mordvin languages may be in a more optimistic situation than previously thought.