In the first half of the 20th century, the social functions of the indigenous languages in Chukotka, in northeast Asia, increased due to the development of written languages, local press, and broadcasting on radio and television. From 1933 to 1989, the local press of indigenous peoples in Chukotka was used for Communist Party propaganda. However, it also improved the indigenous peoples' lives and the development of educational institutions. The local press in Chukotka, published only in the Chukchi language until 1989, was an important forum for maintaining the social functions of indigenous languages. In the 1950s, language assimilation increased because of the language policy and influence of the Russian majority. Indigenous children had to attend boarding schools and were educated in the Russian language. Now the oral traditions are being lost because indigenous families speak mostly Russian and because Native languages are losing their function as transmitters of indigenous culture. The recognition of that loss by indigenous people caused them to found local cultural societies whose aim was to preserve indigenous languages. In the early 1990s, the Murgin Nutenut newspaper was published in three indigenous languages and Russian by a group of Native journalists and writers whose goal was saving their traditional culture and language. Now the paper is a supplement to a Russian newspaper and publishes material in two indigenous languages twice a month. (TD)