This paper aims at shedding light on two under-researched study fields: polyglotism and language maintenance in multilinguals from a psycholinguistic perspective. The theoretic lens for the latter is the holistic and Complex Dynamic System Theory perspective of the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism by Herdina & Jessner (2002). The issue of terminology around the terms multilingual, polyglot, and hyperpolyglot is outlined and a new definition for the term polyglot is offered. Terms like language lover and language enthusiast are also considered. A selection of the findings of the author’s doctoral thesis (2020) is presented. Data was gathered from participants in two international polyglot events in 2016 and 2017 with the help of a questionnaire and a semi-structured expert interview. Eighteen polyglots were questioned. Among them were renowned polyglots like Richard Simcott, Alexander Argüelles, Helen Abadzi, Luca Lampariello, and Elisa Polese. Voice is given to the participants of this study in the form of excerpts from the interviews. Ample proof that considerable language maintenance effort is necessary to counteract the phenomenon of language attrition if not enough time and energy are invested in the multilingual psycholinguistic system was found. The perceived importance that polyglots attach to language maintenance is described. An emergent property, namely smart strategy orchestration of language acquisition, language maintenance, and language management strategies, was identified in experienced language learners such as polyglots. For the first time, language maintenance strategies were classified. These are the strategies that aim to maximize language use and to minimize the language maintenance effort. Affective, metacognitive, and psychological factors were found to play a significant role in language maintenance. The focus was laid on the love for languages and on motivation as the most impactful factors.

This paper discusses the ways polyglots study ancient languages. Understanding their methods helps to expand the inventory of effective linguo-didactic strategies. The relevance of this study is corroborated by the growing number of recent foreign publications devoted to the study of ancient languages by multilinguals. The introductory part of the article focuses on terminological differences between the concepts “polyglot” and “multilingual”. This issue is essential for selecting respondents participating in the study. Definitions of basic concepts are compared based on quantitative, value, ontological, teleological and behavioral criteria. The paper starts with the analysis of the interview with Maria Flaxman, a researcher of ancient Germanic languages. The discussion centers on how her experience of self-studying modern languages shaped her strategy for learning ancient languages. In the second part of the article the identified strategies are compared with the strategies of three other polyglots learning ancient languages. Altogether four polyglots (three men and one woman), who speak, in addition to many modern languages, several ancient languages (two to four languages), took part in the study. A comparison of their responses to a questionnaire, which included 21 points on quantitative and qualitative (age, period, value, behavioral and other) aspects, helped to reveal a number of general patterns, such as: ■ strong internal motivation; ■ the indispensable learning of Latin, regardless of the varying set of other ancient languages; ■ effectiveness of parallel study of modern and ancient languages; ■ the favorite ancient language for all respondents was the one in which they applied their individual strategies; ■ all respondents noted a reduction in the time it took to study their last ancient language compared to the first, as well as ■ the regularity of practicing these languages in the reading mode. The study, thus, makes a contribution to methods of acquiring ancient languages both within the framework of a university curriculum and in the process of self-study.

This article is devoted to the study of the origins of the Mexican place name Uruapan, a city officially known as Uruapan del Progreso in the state of Michoacan, with the purpose of reconstructing the original name by identifying and comparing the diverse versions of the name throughout the time, as well as establishing the ethnic identity of the founders of the town. The main hypothesis developed in the article states that the toponymic data can shed light on the socio-historical processes and allow one to establish the ethnic identity of the founders of a place. The relevance of such research is grounded in the continuing interest in Mesoamerica’s past and in the discrepancies regarding the interpretation of the toponymy of Uruapan. The materials used for this study are vast and comprehensive, integrating texts, archive materials, as well as cartographic and lexicographic sources. The method followed was based on a diachronic comparison of components including morphological, semantic, and cognitive structures. The article demonstrates the motivation behind the toponymy of Uruapan, alongside its static and dynamic dimensions. The proposed version of its Nahuatl origin is based on phonological, grammatical, lexicographical, semantic, and socio-historic data. Such an interpretation allows the authors to establish the Nahuatl identity of the founders of the town. It also reveals the ethnogenesis of the autochthonous population in Mesoamerica and in the state of Michoacan, as well as the migration patterns and the oscillations in the collective memory of the native population. The authors come to the conclusion that the place name for Uruapan comes not from Purepecha but from Nahuatl, which implies the Nahuatl identity of the founders of the town.

This paper proposes an alphabet that can be standardized for writing the Nahuatl language in Mexico. Due to the extensive alphabetic dialectal diversification, each Nahua population writes its variety in a unique way, so there is no written consensus on the language as such, making it difficult to generate academic and other resources for teaching and learning it and even for access to basic services such as public healthcare. A compendium of resources is presented, composed of samples from the writing of diverse Nahua communities and from the institutionalized variety, which went through an evolution across the viceregal colonial period that spans from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, until Mexico’s independent existence from the Spanish crown. Subsequently, a comparative analysis of their spellings and the relationship they have with phonetics is carried out to finally generate a standardizable writing alphabet. Only certain aspects of the dialectal varieties present in communities, municipalities or regions, ranging from the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí to Tlaxcala, are mentioned, and their crucial elements are taken for their harmonization with the historically institutionalized writing form, without delving deeply into each alphabetic dialectal variety because of how extensive this would be, apart from this not being necessarily aligned with the purposes of the project in the making. By combining graphic elements of the varieties mentioned here, an alphabet capable of being understandable both in Nahua communities and in the academic environment is proposed, facilitating the study of Nahuatl both among people who are beginning to learn it and those who speak it partially, as well as anyone seeking to complement their knowledge.

This paper is devoted to the problem of the diversity of “artificial” or constructed languages. The aim of the work is to reveal in-depth the diversity of communication systems developed to varying degrees, as well as to find an answer to the question: what prompted people to create new languages? The author analyzes various types of invented languages, from international universal language projects to secret languages of closed communities, as well as fictional languages used in literature and common languages for use among kindred peoples. The material for the study is numerous examples from research linguistics articles and monographs. Instead of a detailed classification, the work uses the chronological order of the appearance of language projects, regardless of the place of their creation or the identity of the inventor. The chronological presentation of the material allows one to see the big picture. Special attention is paid to little-known projects that are not mentioned or poorly described in the literature on interlinguistics. Using the encyclopedic work of Alexander Dulichenko, International Auxiliary Languages (1990), as a starting point, the author significantly expanded the scope of constructed languages, not limited only to international projects, and supplemented the proposed list. In addition, this paper analyzes some phenomena that were mistakenly included in the list of constructed languages. The main result of this study is a list consisting of several hundred different communication systems described in the author’s unpublished book and partly presented here. The abundance of examples helps to understand the problem initially posed. The author has identified several motivating factors for the creation of new languages: the desire for communication; facilitating communication between native speakers of different languages; use in literary works; linguistic and philosophical research; communication in closed communities, etc. This work is complemented by examples of numerals from various pasigraphies (universal writing systems).

This paper is based on a talk given by the author at the round table discussion on Current Trends in the Development of Language Policy in CIS, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean (MGIMO University, Moscow, October 12, 2023). Geolinguistics in the context of Russian government foreign language policy planning was discussed in terms of languages of the Global South not yet taught in the Russian Federation. Based on the principle that political multi-polarity implies linguistic multi-polarity, many languages of regional importance were identified. Although great-power status for Russia is assumed to apply at present, demographics suggest that this will change in the future. Nevertheless, with proper foreign language education planning, Russia’s soft-power status can be preserved indefinitely. Different approaches with regard to language policy can exist. One approach is that of promoting homogeneity in language use. Another is encouraging transparency in the transfer of information through multilingualism. Yet another one is that of promoting linguistic multi-polarity, where national, international, and local languages are valued equally. Government language education policies, whether idealistic or Machiavellian, must have concrete, usually politically determined, objectives. On the basis of political and economic considerations, Kurdish, Nepali, Burmese, Sinhala, Tamil, Cambodian, and also Tagalog were recommended. A case was also made for the pidgin and creole language studies being taken seriously. Various African languages of national importance were mentioned, as well as Sundanese a language spoken in Indonesia and Cebuano, a language spoken in the Philippines, on the grounds that they are included on Google and/or Yandex Translate. Finally, emoji was introduced as a worldwide pidgin that is rapidly developing into a language for written communication, especially among people who use sign languages. Language education policies can have political objectives which are positive, negative, or neutral. Though there are too many languages of potential importance to teach all, Russian advocacy of multi-polarity must presuppose a commitment to multilingualism and to transparency as to its methods and objectives.

The article is focused on the linguistic situation in the Philippines, shaped historically both from outside (colonization by Spain and the USA which brought about Spanish and English as the state languages), and from inside (bringing Tagalog out of 170 local languages to the fore and renaming it into Pilipino and later Filipino). Being the language only of the fourth part of the population, it was, nevertheless, conceived of as the only state language of the Philippines. The policy of its “intellectualization”, elevating the language to a high state status, has encountered a number of obstacles, among which is the lack of the governmental support and interest among the population in reading books only in Filipino, the absence of translation centers which could popularize local literature, the shortage of professional translators and insufficient fees for their work. The process is slowed down by the influence of the English language supported on the level of the government and remaining the main official language in state structures and organizations, legal system and universities. The University of the Philippines is the most powerful institution in enhancing the role of Filipino. The study of mass media in the Philippines has brought to light the variety of languages used in newspapers: all broadsheets are printed in English, whereas tabloids are released in local languages, Tagalog primarily, but also in Bikol, Ilocano, Cebuano, Waray and Hiligaynon. There are also newspapers issued in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The same linguistic kaleidoscope is reflected in TV and radio programs, which maintains cultural identity, emotionality and unique storytelling of the Filipinos.