Signs of Non-recognition: Colonized Linguistic Landscapes and Indigenous Peoples in Chersky, Northeastern Siberia

Abstract

This paper analyses the presence and absence of local languages in the visual sphere of Chersky, a small settlement located in the Nizhnekolymsk Rayon (Lower Kolyma County) in the far northeast of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the Russian Federation. The linguistic landscape—the elements of language present in public space—can be seen as a reflection of the sustainability of a language and indeed the cultural identity of a group. An assessment of Chersky’s linguistic landscape reveals that despite the region being home to Russian, Sakha, Eveny, Chukchi, and Yukaghir speakers, not all of these languages have a presence within the landscape. We analyze the ways in which the indigenous Eveny, Chukchi and Yukaghir languages are excluded from the linguistic landscape in favour of Russian, Sakha, and even English; these local languages are subsumed within a discourse that highlights the region’s belonging not only to the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), but to the Russian Federation as a whole.