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What language advertises: ethnographic branding in the linguistic landscape of Yakutsk

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Abstract

Yakutsk, capital of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in Russia’s Far Eastern Federal District, was often described in 19th and early 20th century accounts as being unique in the Russian Empire in that it was not a solely “Russian” city; rather, it was a Sakha (Yakut) place. Its population, Russian and Sakha alike, were conversant in the local Sakha language during that earlier period, though over the Soviet era, progressively stricter policies of Russification led to communicative norms shifting and the Sakha language becoming less visible (and audible) in this urban centre. Using a survey of Yakutsk’s linguistic landscape in 2013–2015, we analyse the presence of Sakha and the indexical meanings connected to its usage; examples from the commercial sphere suggests it is becoming prominent in a campaign of “ethnographic branding” (Manning and Uplisashvili in Am Anthropol 109(4):626–641, 2007) that relies on significant Sakha historical figures, cosmological concepts, as well as references to the rural (and Sakha-associated) spaces of the Republic to create a sense of “Sakha-ness” in the city. Though Russian remains dominant within the linguistic landscape of the city both when considering top-down and bottom-up policy and planning, we draw attention to the places where Sakha is indeed being used to reveal the dynamics of creating a more “Sakha” Yakutsk, and create a kind of “commodified” authenticity (see Heller in Annu Rev Anthropol 39:101–104, 2010; Heller et al. in J Socioling 18(4):539–566, 2014; Coupland in J Socioling 7(3):417–431, 2003).

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Notes

  1. Of these approximately 450,000 Sakha speakers, 441,536 live in the Sakha Republic (Vserossiiskaia Perepis Naseleniia 2010).

  2. Shohamy (2006: 16) considers architecture as one of the many elements of what she terms “languaging,” or “the multiple ways of representation not limited to words but rather include additional ways of expression consisting of a variety of creative devices,” and studying the interplay between these forms and languages used in the LL would likely be fruitful. However, a full analysis is beyond the scope of this particular paper.

  3. Throughout the text, Russian words are presented in italics, and Sakha words in underlined italics.

  4. A person of mixed Sakha and Russian descent; also refers to an early Russian settler who assimilated to Sakha culture.

  5. Named for Nikita Krushchev, as during his tenure he instigated the construction of affordable residences for urban residents.

  6. Zaripova (2012: 29–31) discusses a similar situation in Ufa, Bashkortostan, where many (but not all) businesses had Bashkir names and even informative signs (e.g. opening hours) presented bilingually in Bashkir and Russian, but all other signage—especially advertising—was presented in Russian.

  7. Compare with Font (2014: 26) who notes similarly that Russian often appears in a larger, bolder font than Chuvash on signs in Cheboksary.

  8. An alaas is a shallow depression in the melted permafrost; this geographic feature is widespread in the central region of the Republic, and is an excellent place for a homestead and grazing animals.

  9. Tokko is a hydronym that originates in the Evenki language; however, the same word is also used in Sakha.

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Acknowledgments

For Ferguson this research was made possible by an invitation to the Cold Lands Seminar by the Northern Studies department at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, October 2013; a second trip to Yakutsk in June–July 2014 was sponsored by a College of Liberal Arts Creative and Research Activities Grant, University of Nevada-Reno.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada-Reno, 1664 North Virginia Street, Reno, NV, 89557-0096, USA

    Jenanne Ferguson

  2. Department of Culturology, North Eastern Federal University, 42 Kulakovskii Street, Yakutsk, Russian Federation, 677000

    Lena Sidorova

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  1. Jenanne Ferguson
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Correspondence to Jenanne Ferguson.

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Ferguson, J., Sidorova, L. What language advertises: ethnographic branding in the linguistic landscape of Yakutsk. Lang Policy 17, 23–54 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-016-9420-4

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