The language policy in Dagestan: historical aspect

Studying the new archival records and existing historical literature on the issue, the article covers the basic areas and the content of the language policy of Dagestan authorities in the Soviet and modern periods of the country development. The paper also considers contribution of the small indigenous illiterate peoples to the preservation and development of their languages without government support. The author focuses on the issue of development of the Dagestan peoples' languages list, and suggests one of the solutions of this issue.