ETHNO-LINGUISTIC PROCESSES IN THE VOLGA-URAL MACRO-REGION OF RUSSIA IN THE XX CENTURY (on the example of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan)

The article analyzes the ethno-linguistic processes in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan, as the key republics of the Volga-Ural macro-region, developing during the twentieth century. The author comes to the conclusion that the Volga-Ural macroregion occupies a special place in the system of ethnonational relations in Russia, since this territory has been, since the very beginning of the modern era of mankind, a zone of intensive interaction of Finno-Ugric, Turkic and Slavic ethno-linguistic groups. By the beginning of the XX century, the ethno-linguistic picture of this macroregion stabilized and led to the formation of numerous ethnic groups, which gradually developed into ethnonations that are “autochthonous” formations. During the XX century, the territory of this macroregion underwent fundamental ethno-linguistic changes caused by the most diverse and deep settlement, socio-economic and socio-political processes that shook our country during this period. A special role was played by the development of bilingualism, which developed very rapidly in the direction of national-Russian bilingualism, reaching by the end of the century from 97 to 99 % of the non-Russian population of the macroregion. Russian Russian-national bilingualism has not developed at all, making up a little more than a percent of the number of Russians living in this territory, and over the past fifteen years, after a small surge, it has again declined.