Buryat language status in modern Russian law

The Buryatsare one of the aboriginal peoples of the Russian Federation amounting to 445 175 people (2002), who mainly inhabit the territory of theBuryat Republic (272 910), Irkutsk (80 565) and Zabaikalsky (70 457) Regions. In the article the legal position of the Buryat language isconsidered as stated in special and fundamental regional laws that regulate the use of the language in the Buryat national-administrativeformations on the territory of Russia: the Republic of Buryatia, Ust-Ordynsky Buryat and Aginsky Buryat Areas. In the first case theBuryat language status is defined on the territory of the entire region, in the second - within the given areas that are parts of Irkutsk andZabaikalsky regions respectively. The spheres of use of the language are allocated. The communicative powers of the Buryat and Russianlanguages, fixed by law, are compared in the regions. By analysing the diachronous editions of regional laws the dynamics ofchanges in the legal position of the Buryat language is traced. The highest position of the language is in the laws of the Buryat Republic,where, along with Russian, it is proclaimed an official language and can be used in the sphere of education at all levels: from pre-schoolto university inclusively. Moreover, Buryat laws contain requirements on the necessity of provision and observance of Buryat and Russianbilingualism in all public information on the territory of the republic. However, in some spheres, by the law, Russian (being theofficial language of the Russian Federation) can be used exclusively, such as organising foreign contacts, documentation and notary'sactivities, which indicates the factual functional discrimination between the two official languages of Buryatia. On the territory of Ust-Ordynsky Buryat Area, the laws of Irkutsk Region guarantee the opportunity of using the languages of the peoples of the area in theofficial spheres of communication, the creation of conditions for development of information and education activities in these languages,the design of multilingual signs and pointers, etc. In Zabaikalsk Region, which includes Aginsky Buryat Area, separate sections of theCharter of the region state the opportunity of using the Buryat language along with Russian, and the right of the citizens to receive anddistribute information in Buryat via mass media.

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