The role of the boarding school in Forest Nenets language shift: A case study from the Purovsky District

The present article examines the influence of the boarding school in Tarko-Sale on language shift among students who are mother-tongue speakers of Forest Nenets. The study focuses on the interplay between official language policy in the district and its local implementation. In the past, the use of Forest Nenets in daily school life, combined with the absence of strict prohibitions on its use, contributed to the language’s preservation among boarding school students. For the older genera­­‑ tion of students, the isolation of their life at boarding school from the surrounding Russian-speaking environment, together with the school’s strict daily schedule, created the necessary conditions for the accidental formation of a language nest where Forest Nenets was the primary language for communication. Based on the collected field data, it appears that language shift among Forest Nenets speakers began with the development of Tarko-Sale in the 1980s. The shift was likely driven by the expansion of urban infrastructure and the development of new career strategies for students after graduation. This policy destabilized the use of Forest Nenets among younger generations of students and weakened its status. Before the economic transformation began, the boarding school had held a central role in the students’ lives. The environment of old Tarko-Sale offered very few activities and limited students’ interaction to only the Forest Nenets-speaking community.