440.14
International Political Support For Endangered Languages (The Uralic Languages of Russia as an example)
According to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in danger there are 131 such languages in Russia: 20 vulnerable ones, 49 definitely endangered, 29 severely endangered, 22 critically endangered and 15 extinct languages. Uralic languages are among them. Along with traditional measures the World Congress of Finno-Ugrian peoples (the institutional form of the Finno-Ugrian language community) are forms to attract attention to the situation of these languages
The beginnings of construction of the Finno-Ugrian community were laid in the eighteenth century by Henrik Gabriel Porthan, professor of rhetoric who popularized the idea of Finno-Ugrian brotherhood in Finland and urged Finnish scholars to investigate the kindred Finno-Ugrian languages. Spheres of cooperation expanded in the 19th century. This trend culminated in the Finno-Ugrian cultural congresses organized by Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian scholars, teachers, and students. The first was held in Helsinki in 1921.
The ideas of rebuilding began in the early 1990s. The Finno-Ugrian world was conceived as a broad cultural identity based on linguistic affinity, and attempt to integrate various Finno-Ugrian peoples in the social and cultural integrity. In 1992 the first World Congress of Finno-Ugrian Peoples was held in Syktyvkar where it was tasked to “achieve the status of non-governmental organization United Nations”, further in 1996 (Budapest), in 2000 (Helsinki), in 2004 (Tallinn) in 2008 (Khanty-Mansiysk) and in 2012 (Siofok).
Over the past two decades, World Congresses did not grow into a non-governmental organization or analogue of the International Organization of la Francophonie. However, they have become forums where the problem of endangered languages is actualized. World Congresses are the guidelines for the implementation of language policies at the regional level.