A Sociolinguistic Study of Language Attitudes among Buriat and Russian Youth in the Republic of Buriatiia

Abstract

This article explores the language attitudes of young residents of the Republic of Buriatiia toward two official languages in the region, Buriat and Russian. The article also contributes to the research methodology on language attitudes and use, notably by employing a verbal guise technique in a psychosociolinguistic experiment. In the experiment, both phonetically authentic (native, accent-free) and inauthentic (non-native, phonetically nonstandard) Buriat and Russian voices are evaluated by representatives of both nationalities based on two distinct lines: achievement and character traits. The experiment revealed positive attitudes toward native speaking and perception of non-native speaking as a deviation from the norm that are indicative of the unconscious “one ethnicity—one language” idea in the mass consciousness of the youth in Buriatiia along with the strategies of tolerance and ethnocentrism.