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Endangered Languages: Eastern Europe & Eurasia

Introduction

Eastern Europe and the parts of Eurasia currently or formerly contained within the Russian/Soviet state are home to a bewildering variety of languages.  Some of these are the result of recent migrations, resettlements, and the continuing expansion of dominant languages, but most of them are indigenous to the region, with roots going back to the dawn of recorded knowledge.  In terms of languages that are currently endangered, many of them can be found in Siberia and the Russian Far East, among the Finno-Ugric peoples of the northern part of European Russia and the Baltic region, and in the Caucasus, while nearly every country in Eastern Europe has minority languages in danger of disappearing.

The phrase "The Mountain of Tongues" is a medieval Arabic name for the region of Daghestan in extreme southern Russia, which is one of the most linguistically-diverse areas in the world.  Despite the fact that many of Daghestan's languages have only a few thousand or even a few hundred speakers, due to complex geographic, cultural and historical factors they have remained remarkable stable and persistent over time. Map source: vectormaps

                                                                             

Subject Headings

Caucasian languages

Daghestan languages

Dagestanian languages

Abkhazo-Adyghian languages

Circassian languages

Turkic languages

Hyperborean languages

Yeniseian languages

Ket language

Library Catalog

Online Resources

Public Databases and Archives

Endangered Languages Project (ELP)
https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/
A collaborative online platform with profiles for thousands of endangered languages, including many from Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Includes recordings, documentation, and links to revitalization efforts.

UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas/
An interactive atlas tracking the global status of endangered languages. Useful for locating languages across Siberia, Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus.

Open Language Archives Community (OLAC)
http://www.language-archives.org/
A global virtual library of language resources, including extensive materials on Finno-Ugric, Turkic, and Caucasian languages.

ELAR – Endangered Languages Archive
https://www.elararchive.org/
Hosted by SOAS University of London, this archive offers open access to documentation collections on dozens of languages across Russia, Siberia, and Central Asia.

Uralic Centre for Documentation and Revitalization (UCDR)
https://uralic.org/
A nonprofit platform dedicated to the promotion and revitalization of Uralic languages, including Mari, Komi, Udmurt, and others.

 Statistical tools

Ethnologue: Languages of the World
https://www.ethnologue.com/
Offers in-depth language profiles including speaker numbers, vitality status, and language family trees. While some content is subscription-based, basic data is free.

Lingua Libre (Wikimedia Foundation)
https://lingualibre.org/
A collaborative platform for recording and sharing word pronunciations in under-resourced languages. Includes speakers of Eastern European and Russian minority languages.

Komi Language Portal
http://komikyv.org/
A resource promoting the Komi language through dictionaries, media, and community engagement.