ASU News

The Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics at ASU hosted a meeting with polyglot Dmitry Petrov. This scientific seminar was scheduled to coincide with the “International Decade of Indigenous Languages” under the auspices of UNESCO. The event was organized collaboratively by the Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics at ASU, the Faculty of Foreign Languages at ASU, and the Center for Language and Brain at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. The seminar aimed to raise awareness about the critical issue of indigenous language loss, including the Adyghe language, as well as the urgent need to preserve, revive, and promote these languages at both national and international levels.
 
-"This problem is being addressed at the federal level, as it pertains to political, social, and ethnocultural issues. Language is not merely a code; it embodies the essence of a people, their soul, and what makes us who we are. I believe that a solution to this problem can only be achieved through collaborative interaction and collective efforts,"- remarked Susanna Makerova, the head of the Department of English Philology, professor, doctor of philological sciences, and head of the Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics at ASU.
 
The Chairman of the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme, member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, member of the National Organizing Committee for the preparation and holding of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages in the Russian Federation in 2022-2032 Sergei Bakeikin addressed the conference participants with a welcoming speech . The guests and speakers of the seminar were the head of the department for support and implementation of language projects of the House of Peoples of Russia Feride Aronia, the Chairman of the Council of Rectors of the Southern Federal District, Vice-President of the Russian Union of Rectors Marina Borovskaya and the Russian simultaneous interpreter, professor of the Higher Humanitarian School of KAZGUU, linguist and polyglot, host of the Polyglot TV project Dmitry Petrov .

In his greeting, Sergey Bakeikin noted that the decade of languages was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly to draw the attention of the global community to the dangers posed by the disappearance of many indigenous languages, emphasizing the urgency of their preservation and revival. He stated that today, according to UNESCO, there are approximately seven thousand languages in the world; however, by the middle of the century, only half will remain, and by the end of the century, only 10%. He lamented that a language dies every week. This issue primarily affects smaller languages, but it also extends to larger ones. For instance, over the past 15 years, more than 50 million native speakers of the Russian language have been lost, according to the speaker.
 
In her welcoming speech, Marina Borovskaya underscored the importance of such seminars and shared plans for further large-scale support of the activities of the Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics on the inter-university platform established by the Council of Rectors of Universities in the South of Russia. Additionally, Feride Aronia discussed collaboration with IT companies to promote indigenous languages.

-We focus on the development and support of the languages of the peoples of Russia in the digital space. As part of this initiative, we are implementing projects aimed at supporting these languages with appropriate keyboard layouts. One of our major projects is our collaboration with Yandex to enrich Yandex Translator with the languages of the indigenous peoples of Russia. In the next stage, we plan to train neural networks in these languages,”- shared Feride Aronia.
 
Dmitry Petrov spoke about the development of his own language learning method. Its main goal was to attract people who are not professionally involved in linguistics to study languages, so that they would not get confused or disappointed during the training, but would feel comfortable. Thanks to the TV program "Polyglot", broadcast on the TV channel "Culture", Dmitry Yuryevich popularized foreign languages. Now he uses his method of fast and comfortable learning of foreign languages to teach people the languages of the peoples of Russia.

- Now I am actively studying the languages of the indigenous peoples of Russia. For me, this topic is not just of research interest, I believe that it is very important in cultural, political and moral terms to preserve the great wealth of linguistic diversity of our country. Within the framework of this sphere, I am implementing a television project. The first was a basic course of the Tatar language, I recorded it on Kazan television in the Republic of Tatarstan. Then there was a similar basic course of the Kalmyk language, which I recorded in the city of Elista, the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia. My next project - which will take place at the end of this month - is the Yakut language, but I am not going to stop there , - shared Dmitry Petrov.
 
Dmitry believes that his method is suitable for learning any language, including Adyghe. He noted that in order for people to speak their native language, they need to be encouraged and praised for it. The professor also noted that more than half of all people are bilingual and shared his idea for popularizing the languages of the indigenous peoples of Russia. He believes that short courses on learning other languages of the Russian Federation should be held periodically throughout the country, when, for example, a resident of Yakutia studies Adyghe for a week, and a resident of Moscow studies Tatar. 

The seminar also raised other issues of bilingualism, taking into account international and regional experiences.  Susanna Makerova noted that the topic of the event was a logical continuation of her participation in the international conference at the Russian House of Science and Culture, as well as at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where the issues of ethnocultural markers in the language of communication and the popular language of fashion in France were touched upon. The current seminar provided an opportunity  to outline options for combining technologies for future research at the Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics of ASU. 

– The activities of the Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics of ASU are implemented with partners from the Center for Language and Brain of the National Research University Higher School of Economics using new technologies and tools to solve current linguistic problems in the experimental direction that is relevant today. Such a synthesis of the fundamental and the applied at a new level will certainly bear fruit. And the universal, but at the same time linguistically specific methodology of teaching foreign languages by Dmitry Petrov can be adapted to the Adyghe language, which is significant in methodological and practical terms from the point of view of teaching the language and the effectiveness of its acquisition, – shared Susanna Makerova.

Let us recall that the Laboratory of Experimental Linguistics of ASU was created within the framework of the implementation of the strategic academic leadership program "Priority 2030". The main areas of work of the scientific laboratory are related to the study of the psycho- and neurolinguistic function of the brain of native speakers of the peoples of Russia. Scientists of the laboratory conduct psycholinguistic studies of the Adyghe language and bilingualism (bilingualism), and neurolinguistic clinical studies of speech disorders and cognitive functions in bilinguals using neurovisualization methods.

Video of the seminar: