The Language and Culture of the Siberian Chuvash as an Object Of Research

: This article is devoted to the problem of maintaining and preserving the ethnic culture and language of the Chuvash living in Western Siberia. The purpose of the work is to initiate the beginning of linguistic and, in general, ethnographic studies of this diaspora group of the Chuvash people, the existence of which is an interesting scientific problem. Methods . The author mainly relies on the already published scientific developments of Siberian scientists. In fact, these studies are written in the genre of an essay. It provides information about the language, demographic situation, folklore and religion of the Chuvash of the specified region. Conclusions . Studies have shown that the Chuvash of the metropolis and Siberia retain many common features in traditions, customs, religious practice and culture. Their first generation tries to preserve the ethnic culture to the maximum extent possible. The new settlers, as a rule, speak the language and observe the traditional ritual and festive culture, while representatives of the Chuvash Republic often take a significant part in their life. Subsequent generations are more exposed to the processes of language shift and de-ethnization. Observations show that in order to maintain and preserve an ethnic culture, it is extremely important to recognize the need to maintain an ethnic language.


Introduction
It is accepted that the Bulgarians, which are thought to come from the word meaning bulgamak (to mix), are a tribe of Turkish. The writings on the tombstones of the Volga-Bulgarian state and other archaeological remains prove this [see: Kurat, 1972, p. 108]. Old-Bulgarian language samples left their traces on Idil-Bulgarian tombstones and presented new information about their continuation to the scientific world.
It is a view accepted by scientists that the ancestors of the people known today as Chuvash were Bulgars (a branch of the Western Hun Turks). There are also scientists who have other views. Barthold argues that the Chuvash are a mixture of Bulgarians and Slavs. Kovalevsky is of the opinion that the ancestors of the Chuvash people were the Suvar tribe. Rasonyi said that if the Chuvash people have a mixture other than Turks in their blood, it is only "Finnish blood". Chuvash historian Smirnov, on the other hand, thinks that clear information about the Chuvash, based on the sources written during the Russian occupation of Kazan in the 16th century, lived under another name, hiding under the name of Burtsa or Bulgar among the Middle Idil peoples until that time.
A part of Chuvash people's history is about the coming of Suars, Bulgarians, Eskels, Barsils and Balanjars towards the region of Idyll in the 8th and 9th centuries. Those tribes found the Idyll Bulgarian State in the 10th century.
The Bulgarians joined the Golden Horde in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Golden Horde State consists

The Formation Types of Siberian Chuvash Population
It is difficult to say the exact date of Chuvash migration to Siberian territories. It is estimated that Chuvash people came to Siberian territories with Russian explorers only during the reign of Ivan IV. What is known for sure is that Chuvash people were located in Siberia in the 17th century. Since that period, it has been said that Chuvash tradesmen usually visited Zauralye (today's Tyumen region). In the earlier periods, at the end of the 16th century, it has been mentioned that Kuchum Khan went to Kazan and when he came back to Siberia he was together with Slujiliy Chuvash people (those who served for Russian army during the 17th century). Chuvash people played an important role on the formation of Siberian Tartary groups in Istertobolsk [Коровушкин, 2009, p. 65].
As those migrations were few in number, irregular and unorganized, they could not play a significant role on the formation of Siberian Chuvash groups. For this reason, it is seen that Chuvash community came to Western Siberia at the end of the 19th century [Коровушкин, 2009, p. 66].
During that period, the factors that caused Chuvash people in the Volga region migrate towards less populated Russian territories in 1880 are; the disappearance of feudal system that prevented slavery, the intensity of Chuvash population in the North and North-western regions, the impossibility of the expansion of cultivable lands and the decrease of forests [Коровушкин, 2009, p. 66].
According The recent and bigger migrations to Siberia by Chuvash people in European part of Russia happened between 1921 and 1929. It is obvious that 'the main reason of the migration in European part of Russia' in that period was to settle in 'Siberia collectively'. The scale line of the migrations was limited. Only 25000 immigrants, including those in Omsk and Novonikolaevsk, out of 170000 was planned to be located in 1922 [Коровушкин, 2009, p. 68]. However, it is also seen that Chuvash people settled down in an unplanned manner.
In Novonikolayevsky province, Chuvash immigrants were distributed lands from the regions above; Ust-Tarsk, Kıshtovsk, Kolivansk counties in Novonikolayevsky, today's Lyubinsk, Muromtsevk, Tarsk counties in Omsk, Nijne-Tavdinsk, Yarkovsk of today's Tyumen in Ural. There are no significant differences in the regions appeared during and after the World War II. As the Soviet census failed to give an exact total number in 1939, the number of Chuvash people between 1930 and 1940 is not certain. They are known to be living in two regions during that period; 41910 people in Novosibirsk and 10823 people in Omsk [Коровушкин, 2009, p. 71].
The census made in 1959 was not very brilliant either. According to that census, the number of Chuvash people living in Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tyumen regions is not certain. The number of Chuvash people in those regions is known for sure only after the census carried out in 1970. According to that census the number of Chuvash people is 30250. In Novosibirsk there are 8007 Chuvash people, in Omsk the number is 6007, and 16236 Chuvash people were living in Tyumen. In Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo and Tomsk there were 66097 Chuvash people [Коровушкин, 2009, p. 71].
It has been observed that both the number and the type of settlement of Chuvash people in Western Siberia changed between 1960 and 1980. During those years as living conditions have showed a significant change the villagers (including Chuvash people) started to migrate to industrially developed provinces and big cities. Those migrations happen for a special reason such as; education, marriage and etc. Most Siberian Chuvash people come together with big ranches. Such coalescences cause fragmentation of the settlement and they quicken the assimilation of the public [Коровушкин, 2009, p. 72].
The reason why the number of Chuvash people increased over the last 30 years is obvious. The reason is the gradual and quick growth of industrial raw material development in the region. Active population migrates especially to the Northern Tyumen autonomous regions such as Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets [Коровушкин, 2009, p. 72].
The reason why Chuvash people in Tyumen region live together is the planned settlement applied to the immigrants who migrated in 1920. As a result of such settlement, only a small number of Chuvash people could be able to save their homogenous nation identities. Those who could be able to protect their national identities are in danger of becoming extinct because of other nations' influences. In the future, one of the reasons why Chuvash people may be in danger of becoming extinct will be shrinkage of their villages and settlement areas.
After analyzing the causes and the period of migration of Chuvash people in Western Siberia, such results could be obtained: It has been seen that at the end of the 16th century and in the third quarter of the 19th century, Chuvash people migrated coincidentally.
1. During their active migration to Siberia in the middle of 1880s and in 1905, the first settlement area of Chuvash people appeared in the Southwest part of Siberia. That area laid the base for the settlement of Chuvash people in the Western Siberia today.
2. Agricultural reform called 'Stolıpinskaya' between 1906 and 1917. In that period, an intense immigration occurred from Volga-Ural region towards Siberia and Chuvash people were located in the woods in Tobolsk and Tomsk and in Eastern Siberian provinces.
3. Chuvash people in Western Siberia showed regional settlements between 1920 and 1930.
4. In the middle of 1930s and at the beginning of 1950s permanent population got move because of Collectivization and the World War II.
5. In the middle of 1950s and at the beginning of 1990s immigrations from villages to industrially developed provinces increase.

Language
The Chuvash language has a special place because of its familiarity with Turkish languages, Mongolian and Fin-Ugor languages. It is claimed that Chuvash language is similar to Fin-Ugor languages as it has some words from Cheremisik and Udmurt language. After some Mongolian words entered into the language, a sound analogy has been determined and it has been claimed that Chuvash language resembles to Mongolian. As a result of modern language research at the beginning of the 20th century and after long debates of scientists it has been proved by looking at the phonetics, grammar and dictionary studies that Chuvash language is a branch of Turkish language family. Looking at the results of studies on Chuvash language, today's Chuvash language is a dialect which forms its own group in the classification of Turkish language family. The understanding level of the language among other dialects is very low. It is r/1 Turkish which is a continuation of basic Bulgarian.
However, this language is in danger of becoming extinct today. It has been observed that Chuvash people both in and outside of Chuvashia prefer Russian instead of their mother tongues. There are a few reasons of that; it is believed that Russian would be better for achieving success, the thought that speaking Russian fluently and introducing oneself as Russian would bring better job opportunities, interracial marriages, etc.
It is necessary to give information about the mother tongue of Siberian Chuvash people. After the foundation of Soviet Government, the state used a new language policy. According to that policy, they started to give education in public's mother tongue or teach those living in national settlements their mother tongue. Siberian Education Institution in Siberia faced with great difficulties when they started to apply that policy such as; a place to have education and lack of lecturers. Besides, due to lack of books and resources in Siberia between 1920 and 1923, they asked those things from National States. Those National States experienced the same difficulty, namely shortage of books and resources [Коровушкин, 1997, p. 29].
During 1922-1923 education year, there were almost 40 national school and 12 culture and education center that gave education in Chuvash language in Western Siberia. However, as a result of economical policy of the Soviet government, the schools were taken from the state and their control was given to the public in order to be maintained. As a result of that the number of Chuvash schools in Western Siberia came down to 17. Only 630 Chuvash school-children out of 8158 could have the opportunity to have education in that period. Despite of those negativities, the percentage of educated Chuvash people was 23.5% until 1926. New schools and institutions were built with the coming of other people from Chuvashia and Volga. Till the end of 1920, educational needs were taken care of by the institutions. Secondary education schools of various levels were built. But Russian still kept going to be the education language in some Chuvash villages. Chuvash language, however, was taught as mother tongue only in few schools. In 1930s, a decrease in bringing resources in Chuvash language from Chuvashia was seen and there were almost no periodicals. As a result of that, Siberian Chuvash people started to experience bilingualism with Russian and Chuvash language. That bilingualism was practiced not only among ethnic groups but also in the families. Thus, the number of people who considered Chuvash language as their mother tongue decreased. The number of Siberian Chuvash people declined 91.6%, and in 1929 it was 72.4%. In the same years, the number of Chuvash people in Chuvashia was 97.5% [Коровушкин, 1997, p. 30].
During the World War II, the male population was at war, our grandmothers and grandfathers were starving to death and language and cultural heritage was not sufficiently left to the next generations because of those hard conditions. In those years of wartime, Siberian Chuvash people lost their relationship by affinity with those in Volga-Ural region [Коровушкин, 1997, p. 32].
During the post-war years, the factors such as the appearance of television and radio with Russian frequencies, immigrations from villages to the provinces and cities played an important role on the lack of preservation of Chuvash people's ethnic language.
The questionnaire results obtained by D. G. Korovushkin and his commission about Siberian Chuvash people's language can be seen in the figure below (see table 1).
It is seen in the figure that older people's mother tongue level is better than younger ones. It is known that those people in the older age groups had their first education in Chuvash language in Idyll-Bulgaria region. It is also seen that Russian is on the first rank for every group. Bilingualism has started to disappear and Russian has become more significant especially for younger groups.
Although Chuvash language speaking community is in gradual decline, there are many Siberian Chuvash who love and show respect for Chuvash language. It is important to mention A. P. Savina here who lives in Krasnoyarsk. Anna' parents migrated to Siberia in 1912 and started to live there. Like many Chuvash people, A. P. Savina did not have classes and take education in Chuvash language. They would like to know their ancestors well enough, and learn to read in Chuvash on their own. They have subscriptions of some newspapers and magazines published in Chuvashia such as "Yalav" (Flag), "Tǐvan Atǐl" (Self Idyll), "Kapkǐn" (Trap). The number of books, magazines and newspapers in Chuvash language shows such a great increase that they have a big library in their houses. They lend those resources whoever wants. They try to spread Chuvash culture in different countries as much as they can. There is another Chuvash in Krasnoyarsk region worth to be mentioned. As the grandchildren of grandparents migrated to Yenisei and Ob river who does not speak Chuvash language increased, almost a hundred Chuvash people gathered in 1990 and elected V. I. Meshkov as the Manager of Chuvash Culture Center. As a result of V. I. Meshkov's studies, the number of those who were curious about their ancestors' language and culture increases [Иванов, 2000].
Chuvash people who has three different ethnic groups had to live in the same regions when they migrated to Siberia. As a result of that, the different dialects in their language start to disappear. Chuvash language which  was subjected to daily language loses its literary characteristics in time.
Due to the external factors, Siberian Chuvash language becomes simple and corrupted in time. Its syntactic and stylistic differences become obvious. Today, Siberian Chuvash language has become different than the one in Chuvashia. However, it is necessary to mention that Siberian Chuvash language has not yet been scientifically analyzed by linguists in details.
Preoccupation Siberian Chuvash people continue to be preoccupied with what they used to do for living where they came from. The Chuvash people in Volga-Ural region are preoccupied with agriculture and stockbreeding like the other communities in the region. Siberian Chuvash people set the forests on fire and make the soil more fertile. In addition, before setting the forests on fire, they cut the trees and use them for their other needs. While cultivating the soil, they get together with two, three families and share their agricultural implements like the Chuvash people in Volga-Ural region do.
In the third quarter of the 20th century, Siberian Chuvash people produced wheat in contrast to those producing rye in Volga-Ural region. In addition, they produce corn and barley. Corn is crucially important and necessary for Siberian Chuvash people because their livestock stays in the barns all over the year and wheat straw is not enough for them. They also use barley for cooking different dishes. They produce chickpea, maize, and buckwheat in small quantities. If we look at the Arabic and archeological resources, we can see that rye, corn, barley maize and buckwheat were produced during Idyll-Bulgaria period.
At the end of the 19th century, in the third quarter of the 20th century, the important agricultural implements of Siberian Chuvash people are; wooden plough, wooden harrow, swath, reaping hook and quern. Most families have linen thresher.
Except from being preoccupied with soil, they are busy with livestock and fishing. Although there are lots of game animals in the region, Siberian Chuvash people have never been interested in hunting. Few people are interested in fishing. Mostly children and those who enjoy go on fishing. As Siberian Chuvash women do not use fish in their kitchens, they rarely use it.
Even though Chuvash people in Volga-Ural region are preoccupied with livestock, they also go hunting and fishing for additional food. We have mentioned above that in 1960s many Chuvash families located in cold Siberia as a result of the Siberian renewal program. During those years, a dad sends his son to fishing, and after an hour when his son comes back with a bucket full of fish dad says 'You can live here'.
As Chuvash people are preoccupied with agriculture, they can deal with housework only in winter. Both Siberian and Volga-Ural Chuvash people do linen and wood processing as housework. After collecting linen, they wet, hackle and spin it. They sew dress and towel out of that linen. And men sew felt boots and work on brushing.

Dress
At the end of the 19th century, in the third quarter of the 20th century, the most important dress of Siberian Chuvash women is kipe. Kipe (dress) is a flat tunic and the tip of the dress is sewn with triangular fabrics. That tunic-shaped linen dress is the oldest dress of Chuvash women in Volga-Ural region. Kipe is sewn with bleached linen. The sleeve of the dress is generally sewn one within the other with the upper part of the dress [see: Нухрат, 2010, p. 96].
The sleeve is ornamented with colorful stripes or black or red embroidery. They mostly ornament the skirt of the dress especially with hand-woven laces and embroidery. The ornament of the dress is in geometric shape. During 1930s the dress is ornamented with flower motifs. Siberian Chuvash people's tradition of sewing dress is similar to lower Chuvash people and their ornament resembles to upper Chuvash people [Коровушкин, 2009, pp. 35-37]. Categorizing Chuvash dress under two such as lower and upper has become known since early times of history. According to the shape of the dress, that difference is not noticed. They are not different in terms of ornaments and the choice of beads. They have a lot in common in sewing, ornamenting, embroidery, choice of color and way of dressing [see: Иванов, 1995 Red, pink, green pinafore is worn on the top of the dress. The hemlines of the dress are ornamented with embroidery. The pinafore and zamarra is tied with thin belt, rarely with a woven belt. Chuvash people in Volga-Ural region wear ornamented belts during festive periods. Upper Chuvash people wear three belts. And lower Chuvash people wear only one belt with embroidery on the hemlines. The socks are thick and braided. Şipata is used until 1950s.

Traditions (Festivals)
Siberian Chuvash people rarely practice traditions about general customs. Some customs are forgotten and some fit into Russian customs. It is seen that customs of birth, wedding and death are the same with the Russian customs. However, it is possible to say that traditions of festivals are still preserved. According to Siberian Chuvash traditions it has never been seen a wedding ceremony.
Chuvash people have always survived earning their keep with farming. They produced rye, barley and corn. Agriculture was more common even though they were preoccupied with livestock as well. For that reason, many festivals related to agriculture have still been celebrated same as before. Some of them are still remembered by Siberian Chuvash people. It is seen on television and newspapers that they are celebrating those festivals together. Akatuy, Surhuri and Şivarni festivals are annually celebrated by Siberian Chuvash people Akatuy is a spring festival for both Siberian and Volga-Ural Chuvash people. It is related to agriculture. This festival includes traditional ceremonies, rituals and rites. For Chuvash people, Akatuy festival used to start before starting to work on farm and continue till summer corn plantation in the old times [Иванов, 1995, p. 193]. Tyumen Chuvash people celebrated this traditional for the 20th time in 2011 [Чуваши, 2022].
It has been 30 years since Chuvash settled in Tyumen. A film will be shot about the Chuvash living in Tyumen [Ташней, 2022].

Conclusion
This study in my paper, we make use of D. G. Korovushkin's work "V zapadnoy sibiri: passeleniye i çislennost' v kontse XIX -haçale XXI veka" for getting valuable information about Siberian Chuvash people. Those researchers have carried out crucial studies about Siberian Chuvash people and Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians and Germans. This committee who carried out the preliminary studies on Siberian Chuvash people indicated that those Chuvash people's language was not studied scientifically. Our aim is that extensive and comprehensive studies on Siberian Chuvash people should be carried out. Collected works on their languages and literatures should be enhanced.
In this study, after mentioning the reasons of Chuvash people's immigration to Siberia, the similarities and differences are indicated. It is seen that general customs are better known by people who are 50 and older. It is obvious that the youth and children are very vulnerable in terms of assimilation. The characteristics of Anatari (Lower) and Viryal / Turi (Upper) Chuvash people are compositely used in terms of their general customs. Dresses attract much more attention compared to before. And food culture is the same with the food of Idyll-Bulgarian Chuvash people. Language of Chuvash people in both Chuvashia and Siberia is in danger of becoming extinct. Russian started as bilingualism and turned out to be used as the mother tongue and spoken by the general public. The gradual shrinkage of Chuvash villages, Chuvash people's immigration to the big cities is another reason for the extinction of the language. Language of the Siberian Chuvash people has not yet been analyzed scientifically, but it is seen that it is different than Chuvash people's language in Chuvashia. The language of Siberian Chuvash people can be analyzed by establishing a committee.