The Languages of the Indigenous Peoples
of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra: Facts and Figures
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Table of Contents
1. Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra. General information.......... 3
2. Number
of
indigenous
peoples
of
the
North
living
in
Ugra………...................................................................................................3
3. Native languages in the educational system of Ugra................................... 4
4. Repository on folklore of indigenous minorities of Ugra ………………...5
5. Multimedia
of
ancient
cultures
of
the
indigenous
peoples
of
Ugra...............................................................................................................7
6. Multilingualism for the children of Ugra.....................................................8
7. Languages of the indigenous peoples of Ugra and the academic
community....................................................................................................8
8. Languages
of
the
indigenous
peoples
of
Ugra
in
the
media.......................................................................................................... 10
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1.
Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra. General information
2. Number of indigenous people of the North living in Ugra
According to the 2010 national census, the total number of indigenous peoples of the North was
approximately 258,000. The number of indigenous peoples of Ugra increased in recent years from
30,268 in 2005 to 31,127 in 2013.
Population of Indigenous Peoples of the North in Ugra
Khanty
Mansi
Nenets (forest)
5%
35%
60%
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Native language proficiency of the representatives of Indigenous Peoples of Ugra
(census data)
3. Native languages in the educational system of Ugra
In Ugra, 8 ethno-cultural school subjects are included in a number of educational programs.
Today, the study of native Ob Ugric languages is organized in 8 kindergartens for 246 children; in 28
schools for 1,694 students.
22 schools offer vocational guidance in traditional activities of indigenous peoples of the North.
8 schools in Ugra operate traditional craft courses.
With a goal to develop for indigenous children models of education to preserve ethnic cultures,
experimental and innovative activities are supported and promoted in 5 schools and 5 kindergartens.
An innovative project called Language Nest is being implemented in preschool educational institutions
of Berezovo and Beloyarsky municipal districts.
School subjects with an ethno-cultural focus studied in schools of Ugra
 native language,
 hunting and fishery,
 native literature,
 culture of the peoples of the North,
 local history,
 history
 geography of the Khanty-Mansiysk
Autonomous Okrug – Ugra
of
the
Khanty-Mansiysk
Autonomous Okrug – Ugra
 indigenous sports
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Ugra has 13 ethnography camps for children. The oldest of them, Man Uskve (a Mansi name
meaning “a small town”) celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2014. The camp is located in the village of
Saranpaul, Berezovo municipal district, and operates all year round. In summer, it is a tent camp
accommodating up to 90 children for their summer vacations. In winter, children from Man Uskve visit
the historical club and the Sunday school where they study the Mansi language and traditional crafts. It is
noteworthy that the camp is open to all children regardless of their ethnic background. One of the projects
of the camp is Time of Signing Arrows – reconstruction of the structure of the ancient Vogul society
through role-play simulation and the immersion of the children into the atmosphere of the 9th-10th
century.
4. Repository on indigenous folklore of Ugra
The preservation of intangible cultural heritage is one of the priorities for Ugra. The Ob-Ugric
Institute of Applied Research and Development gathers and processes folklore of indigenous peoples of
Ugra. Its collections contain over 3500 hours of audio and video records, collected all across Ugra since
the 1990s. The records contain folklore and ethnographical material contributed by 279 Khantys, 74
Mansis, and 10 representatives of Nenets culture.
Creating a multimedia repository of Ugra’s indigenous folklore is aimed at setting up an inquiry
and communications system to conserve folklore texts and provide the general public with access to the
Khanty, Mansi and Forest Nenets intangible cultural heritage. Virtual visitors have a unique opportunity
to access the Fund’s collections online, hear the sounds of ancient tales, or sacred songs from the Bear
Festival in languages of the indigenous peoples of Ugra.
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Access to the electronic repository can be found at http://www.оуипиир.рф
Ob-Ugric Institute
of Research
and Development
The multimedia repository of indigenous folklore of Ugra includes a photographic archive, digital
audio and video recordings. In each section a user can find information about the artist, genre
classification of the material, reference to the language group and dialect, place and time the material
contributed by the native speaker was recorded, and a brief annotation; play a piece of the recorded
material, see the transcript of the record and the translation of the material into Russian, as well as find
out whether or not this material was published and – in case it was – get information on the publication.
The collection of the digitalized audio and video records on folklore and culture of Khanty, Mansi
and Forest Nenets peoples is 58% of the total archive containing 2611 units, with 99% of the audio
materials already digitalized, while the digitalization of the video archive is 17%.
The format of the repository allows the user to search through any collection using a search box
and sort materials by date or alphabetical listing.
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5. Multimedia of the ancient indigenous cultures of Ugra
The project Multimedia of the Ancient Cultures, which is being implemented in Ugra, has
produced a number of electronic products:
Representatives of the Ob-Ugric folklore
Finno-Ugric world in dolls and toys made by A.M. Takhtueva
Kazim. The Land of Cat’s Elbow.
Schaschi pa khily (The Grandma and Her Grandson): an animation film based on a
Khanty tale with subtitles in English, German and Russian.
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Rovduga of Kazim: educational film on the technologies of processing rovduga
(reindeer leather).
The collections of libraries in Ugra are being enriched by electronic versions of publications in the
languages of indigenous peoples of the North - 28 publications have been digitalized, included among
them are information materials, popular science and fictional literature.
6. Multilingualism for the children of Ugra
Since 2012, a series of fairy tales for children was published in three languages - native language
(Khanty, Mansi, Nenets), Russian and English. This series includes a Khanty tale Little Acorn, a Mansi
tale Woodpecker and Thin Faceted Needle, a Nenets tale Selfish Little Mouse and Mansi Riddles.
Khanty language textbooks have been developed and published (Kazym, Surgut and Vakh
dialects), as well as textbooks for the Mansi language targeting 1st through 5thgraders who do not speak
their native language: ABC-books, textbooks, entertaining grammar books, workbooks, tests, books of
tasks and exercises, reading books in native languages, and Khanty literature readers.
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7. Languages of the indigenous peoples of Ugra and the academic community
Research in the field of language, history and culture of Ob Ugric peoples and Samodi people is
conducted by the Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Research and Development (http://www.оуипиир.рф).
Research field of the Institute is Cultural and philological aspects of genesis and transformations of
historical indigenous peoples’ communities in Ugra.
The Institute’s staff is 50% Khanty, 24% Mansi, 7% Nenets, including 2 Doctors of Philology and
6 indigenous PhD candidates.
During a period of more than 20 years the team from the Institute published more than 300
monographs, collections of folklore, educational literature and catalogues.
The Institute’s web-site features a resource directory containing information about all indigenous
peoples of Ugra – Khanty, Mansi, Nenets, including the history of each ethnic group’s settlement, its size,
the name each of the peoples uses for itself, written language, language and folklore.
The electronic library contains publications about the language and culture of indigenous peoples
of the North, living in Ugra, including the ones in native languages. This database consists of subject
heading lists: periodicals, source books, monographs, folklore collections and conference proceedings,
learning and teaching publications, books for children and dictionaries.
Since 2011, the science, theory, and methodology magazine Vestnik Ugrovedenia (Ugric Studies
Bulletin) has been published, with information on the issues of the magazine presented in full-text format
in the Scientific Electronic Library for the purpose of inclusion in the Russian Science Citation Index.
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8. Indigenous languages of Ugra in the media
The publication of newspapers in Khanty and Mansi languages, as well as television and radio
programs continue to help Ugra preserve and develop its indigenous languages.
State support for national newspapers Khanty Yasang and Luima Seripos allows the newspapers to
be fully accessible through to an increased circulation. Since 2012, regional periodic publications in the
languages of the indigenous people of Ugra are published in a new format: A4, 16 bands, 6 of them are
colored. In 2013 the joint publishing house of the two newspapers launched a website: www.khantyyasang.ru. Residents of Ugra were thus given access to information in three languages: Khanty, Mansi
and Russian.
Since 2014, the Government of Ugra has been funding the publication of printed media for
indigenous peoples, including the Aykol newspaper in the Surgut dialect of the Khanty language,
children's magazine Hatlye in the Khanty language and children's magazine Vitsam in the Mansi
language.
The regional segments in the federal TV channel Russia 1 broadcasts include news programs in
national languages, as well as cultural and educational TV shows, telling about the life, traditions and
cultures of the indigenous peoples of Ugra:
- Uvas Mir Putur, a monthly news program in the Khanty and Mansi languages;
- Yomvash Schunyung Yokh, a weekly program in the Khanty language;
- Heritage of Ugra, a weekly program in Russian, Khanty and Mansi.
The regional TV channel Ugra broadcasts Ugorika shows for children - a TV project dedicated to
the study of the Khanty and Mansi languages, a project with a vibrant indigenous atmosphere which does
more than just having TV presenters wearing indigenous clothes and speaking native languages. An
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important aspect of the project is a philosophical thread running through the whole show. TV programs
targeting a wide range of viewers include:
- Northern Home focusing on the history, culture, way of life, past and future of the indigenous
people of the North of Ugra as a primordial territory of the ethnic group of Khanty and Mansi – two
unique peoples living only in Ugra and nowhere else.
- Finnougria, TV show about peoples belonging to the Finno-Ugric language family, their arts and
crafts, music and folklore, traditional clothes and cuisine.
The shows can be found on the website of the company www.ugra-tv.ru to either be watched
online or retrieved from the video archive.
Information on the Khanty, Mansi, and Nenets languages is available on “Wikipedia”, the free
online encyclopedia.
The Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra has launched a website called Indigenous
Peoples of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Ugra, covering major developments in the world
of the indigenous people of Ugra, part of the information being presented in indigenous languages.
Information Resources:
www.оуипиир.рф
www.khanty-yasang.ru
www.kmns.admhmao.ru
www.ugra-tv.ru
www.okrlib.ru/
http://ugra.okrlib.ru/
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