Language situation in republics located between the Volga upland and the Ural mountains: main trends of changes

The authors make analysis of a language situation in the Russian Federation republics of Bashkortostan, Mari El, Mordovia, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, situated between the Volga Upland and the Urals, and point to ethnic constituency changes. Two fundamentally opposite tendencies in the regional language policy are distinguished: the need to strengthen dominance of the Russian language and the urge to keep or enhance significance of ethnic minorities' languages. The main trends in the coexistence of the Russian language with the titular ethnic languages in the 21st century are described: strengthening of the Russian language positions againstdiminution of ethnic minorities' languages functionality; decrease in the rate of titular ethne representatives who can speak minorities' languages, weakening their role as an ethnic identity marker; shortening the number of schools where ethnic languages are taught; sustained reduction in the number of pupils who learn their republic official languages and ethnic minorities' languages, as well as abridging education programs and academic hours; russification of some representatives of titular ethne in the republics; ethnic nihilism of national communities against ethnic minority languages; imbalance in language policy pursued by federal and regional (republic) state authorities. Steady decline in the advancement of the languages under study is revealed.