Hybrid Identities and Indigenous Language Sustainability: Reflections on Language Contact and (Neo-)Colonial Practices on Sakhalin Island

Abstract

This article discusses hybrid identities and language contact of the Indigenous peoples of Southern Sakhalin, Russia's biggest island located in the Far East. It argues that mobility, advanced techniques of navigation, and a wide range of contacts with the neighbouring populations has facilitated multilingualism on Sakhalin. The international spirit and language super-diversity that were preserved until the beginning of the 20th century were significantly violated by the colonial regimes of Japan and Soviet Russia with their strong focus on ethnic and language classification. However, numerous redistributions of administrative boundaries, mass resettlements, and mixed marriages have paradoxically made the intervening of languages and identities in southern Sakhalin even more complicated. These radical changes further challenge current ethnic and language policies as well as development practices that rested on outdated perspectives on ethnic purity and traditional authenticity. These policies result in the exclusion of many Indigenous people, who fail to fit the dominant discourse on language and identity, which is colonial in nature. A more nuanced account of reality, though, raises a variety of questions ranging from special rights, to Indigenous peoples speaking non-Indigenous languages, to the adequacy of language revitalisation in ethnically mixed communities.