SOCIAL FUNCTIONS IN THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC TYPOLOGY (ON THE MATERIAL OF THE LANGUAGES OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION)

Abstract

The article describes the current state of social linguistics in Russia, its achievements and promising areas for further development. What seems obvious is a relatively small number of scientific works that focus on the methods and techniques of sociolinguistic research and works on typology, including the question of the principles of creating a typological classification of languages. An attempt to create such a classification was presented in a six-volume international work on the languages of the peoples of the world (published in Canada 2000, 2003, Quebec, Laval University). However, this work was not completed and was limited only to an inventory of the social functions of a number of world languages. The article proposes to develop the principles of a functional classification based on the material of the languages of Russia. For this purpose, the descriptions of social functions in the Canadian-Russian work, the encyclopaedia „Language and Society‟ will be used, as well as data from sociolinguistic studies of the languages of Russia. Social functions can be measured using the method of calculating the demographic and communicative power of languages. The authors believe that the development of such a classification, its scientific basis will lead not only to the development of sociolinguistics, but can also become a prerequisite for its further progress. The paper analyzes the principles of identifying the functional types of languages, considers the integral and differential features of different groups, identified on the basis of the social functions of the languages of Russia. The authors distinguish seven functional types, starting with a language with global social functions (Russian), and ending with the languages of temporary linguistic communities (migrants and migrant laborers). At the same time, the authors consider the social functions of the Russian language in different linguistic communities, including communities situated outside the territory of Russia. The languages of the second functional type are further analyzed, such as Tatar language, Tuvinian language, Chuvash language, Bashkir language, Yakut language, languages of minorities and languages of migrants. In conclusion, a description of the multi-component socio-communicative system of the Russian Federation is given and it is concluded that the basic principles of the classification of Russian languages can be used to analyse the linguistic diversity in other regions of the world.