General Analysis of the Ethnolinguistic Situation in Kamchatka Krai in the Context of Language Legislation and Statistical Data

This study provides a general analysis of the ethnolinguistic situation in Kamchatka Krai in the context of language legislation, demographic and statistical data. The analysis of the official statistics (the 2020 All-Russian Population Census) shows that its data does not fully correspond to the real language situation in the region. Identifying the real language situation in Kamchatka Krai requires regular field research, sociolinguistic surveys of the population in the region and questionnaires. The author of this study notes that the dialectal fragmentation of native languages together with the terminological confusion in the names of languages and nationalities make it difficult to quantify both the number of indigenous peoples and number of native speakers. The study also provides a brief overview of regional and federal laws aimed at supporting and preserving the native languages of indigenous peoples, as well as statistical data on teaching and learning the native languages in Kamchatka Krai.