For every contact area we study sets of languages used and contexts of their usages, spot contact phenomena in the structures of these languages, and look for any possible correlations between different types of contacts and different types of structural changes involved. The analysis is mostly based on our own field data (with a series of fieldtrips planned for the duration of the project) and field data shared with us by specialists on the target languages, though we also refer to earlier published primary data where these are available. Where possible, we try to rely on multimedia data for the study of language contact: corpora of natural texts and phonetic wordlists.
A separate focus of our research is on local varieties of Russian attested by language communities of the circumpolar region (Natalia Stoynova). It has never been studied whether the noticeable divergence of the literary norm is the same all over Siberia or each indigenous language substrate produces slightly different results. The project will provide the answer to this research question backed by a tagged corpus of local varieties of Russian.
Selkup Ajvar Kamin, from Bystrinka, Purovskij area of Jamal Nenets Autonomous region, 2011
Forest Enets Anatolij Silkin, Potapovo, Tajmyr, 2008
Example of a map: Traditional Saami speaking lands
Andrey Shluinsky and Natalia Stoynova recording a Forest Enets Leonid Bolin, Tajmyr, 2010
Evenki Praskovja Chimirkan from Yukta, Evenkija, 2014
Ket brothers Ajvar Irikov and Alexandr Korotkikh, Kellog, 2015
Forest Enets Leonid Bolin near Potapovo, Tajmyr, 2010