Mordvins

Mordvins (also Mordvinians, Mordovians; Mordva; no equivalents in Moksha and Erzya) is an official term used in the Russian Federation to refer both to Erzyas and Mokshas since 1928. Soviet people According to recent Oxford studies: In Mordovia, policies aiming at the revival of the Mordvin languages started late. The language law and the education law were adopted only in 1998. Even these measures were controversial, as opinions differ concerning the status of the two standardized main language varieties and ethnic (sub) groups, Erzya and Moksha. The Constitution of 1995 established Russian and Mordvin (Moksha and Erzya) as state languages. From the early 2000s on, the policy goal has been to create a unified Mordvin people and even a single unified Mordvin standard language, although most speakers and modern linguists consider Erzya and Moksha two distinct languages (cf. chapter 23). Proponents of a unified Mordvin language argue that it would support real Russian-Mordvin bilingualism, whereas the current Russian-Erzya-Moksha trilingualism in practice leads to the use of Russian only, reducing the use of the titular languages to a merely symbolic role. Moreover, political aspirations towards a single Mordvin language and a single "Mordvin people" can be seen as an endeavour to copy the central state policy of the building of a unified Russian nation. With one exception in the late 1990s, there have been no executive programmes for the implementation of the Mordvin language law. Of ethnic Mordvin students, probably about a third had access to Mordvin language learning. Erzya and Moksha have been used as the medium of instruction in some rural schools, but the number of students involved is rapidly decreasing. In 2004, the republican authorities attempted to introduce compulsory study of the titular languages as the state languages, but the attempt failed in the aftermath of the 2007 education reform. Erzya-Moksha Autonomy and Mordovia#Part_of_the_Soviet_Union The Erzya-Moksha Autonomy was approved in 1928 as Mordvin Okrug according to personal position of Josef Stalin, who attended the meeting.