Teaching the Mordovian language under the conditions of depopulating the Finno-Ugric peoples

The problem of the native language preservation is considered in the context of negative tendencies for decreasing the population of Finno-Ugric native speakers, including Mordovian native speakers, in Russia. The analysis of the statistics on the birth rate in the national regions of Russia and the secondary analysis of various researches and scientific works have showed that spreading the Russian language as the native one among the Finno-Ugric peoples, including the Mordovian people, influences on their self-identification; they identify themselves as the representatives of not the Finno-Ugric but Russian nationality. The qualitative analysis of the public reports of the comprehensive schools of Saransk has showed the forms and methods of the work on introducing pupils to the Mordovian languages and culture. In the conclusion, the article shows the importance of studying the Finno-Ugric languages for increasing the number of the Finno-Ugric peoples and their share in the total number of the population of the country.