Yakutia Head Aisen Nikolaev Joins Young Blogger Aiyyna's Language Project
Head of Yakutia Aisen Nikolaev participated in the project for the preservation and popularization of the Yakut language #HÖGÜNG («Be Surprised») by young blogger from Yakutsk Aiyyna Kozhurova. On January 23, Il Darkhan wrote about this in his Telegram channel.
Head of Yakutia Aisen Nikolaev appears in a clip encouraging people to learn and use the Yakut language.
«Today, Aiyyna is often called an ambassador of childhood, and that is an absolutely accurate definition. I was fortunate to communicate with her, and our conversation turned out to be wonderfully bright — just as real childhood should be. The young Yakut girl has many ideas and projects, and one of them is the »#HÖGÜNG« project, timed to the Day of Native Language and Writing in Yakutia. I, of course, will gladly take part,» wrote Aisen Nikolaev.
The official and the young blogger express confidence in the long-term survival of the Yakut language.
The head of the republic, together with Aiyyna, filmed a short video in which he called on Yakut people to study their native language and support Aiyyna in her project.
Nikolaev shared childhood memories with the blogger, saying he was playful but never received failing marks in school.
As told to 14.RU correspondent by Aiyyna«s mother Maya Kozhurova, her daughter first published a post on Instagram (an extremist organization, activity banned in the Russian Federation), in which she invited Aisen Nikolaev to take part in her challenge, tagging his old official page. Soon, fellow countrymen from the Amginsky District contacted her, saying that the head would come to the opening of a clinic and Aiyyna had an opportunity to meet him.
«We met with Aisen Sergeyevich in Amga yesterday at the opening of the clinic. The project itself was launched a week ago in anticipation of the Day of Writing, which will be celebrated in Yakutia on February 13. The name of the project, based on the arrangement of letters, is very similar to the word »högör«, which means »be surprised«. I came up with this idea, told Aiyyna, and she launched a challenge that we need to use Yakut letters more often, talk more often. And so the theory of six degrees of separation quickly worked!» said Maya Kozhurova.
Also, Aiyyna«s mother said that her daughter is the heroine of paintings by the most famous Yakut artist Andrey Chikachev, whose works are not only in the National Art Museum but also in private collections around the world. The artist was inspired by her photos.
«Andrey Vasilyevich initially noticed her spontaneity in childhood, and she was the prototype for two paintings,» added Maya.
Aiyyna herself published several stories in her blog where she told how she met with the head, and she had «a whole 10 minutes» to talk with him about her native language, blogging, and bad grades.
One of the signs of the threat of loss of the Yakut language is the rare or distorted use of unique letters — «Һ», «Ө», «Ҕ», «Ү», «Ҥ». These five signs, which distinguish the peculiarity of the Yakut language«s sound, entered the Cyrillic alphabet from the alphabet of Semyon Novgorodov, the first linguist scientist of Yakutia. Aiyyna»s project aims to preserve the Yakut language.
