Sociolinguistic Landscape of the Island of Sakhalin

This paper deals with the current sociolinguistic situation among the indigenous peoples living on the island of Sakhalin, the Russian Far East. The discussion is based on the criteria developed by the UNESCO project on endangered languages for the assessment of language vitality and usage of minority languages in different domains, such as home, education, and media. The paper also discusses language and identity issues, especially the problem concerning the applicability of official statistical data to the description of language shift in multiethnic societies of the type present on Sakhalin.