International Mother Language Day celebrated at Kazan University

The annual observance on 21 February, supported by UNESCO, was introduced in 2000.

To celebrate the day, Associate Professor Nailya Fayzullina offered a lecture titled ‘The multitude of languages in Tatarstan’. She spoke about historical roots of the Volga Region which led to the existing multiethnicity, with indigenous peoples represented by Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashes, Mari, and Udmurts. The lecturer also touched on research results obtained by famous Turkologist Boris Serebrennikov, who studied language intermingling in the Volga Region.

The Associate Professor mentioned endangered indigenous languages of Russia. The extinction of language means the extinction of culture, which makes the objective of language preservation extremely important.

A spelling contest in three languages – Russian, Tatar, and English – was then held for attending students.