Ethnolinguistic vitality, language use and social integration amongst Albanian immigrants in Greece

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the relationship between Albanian speakers' ethnolinguistic vitality (EV) perceptions and their language maintenance, language use and choice patterns. A subjective EV questionnaire, and a language usage questionnaire capturing domain-specific language use was completed by 200 Albanian immigrants of first and second (one and a half) generation residing in various areas all over Greece. In addition, interviews were conducted with 180 informants from the sample to generate useful information for the qualitative analysis. The findings of this study chime with recent findings on Albanian immigrants' social integration strategies. Data analysis uncovers three themes: first, language use is domain-specific, with preferences for the L1 in the home/family domain only, L2 being the language of choice elsewhere especially for the 1.5 generation; second, there are low perceptions of EV of the L1 group across the sample; and third, there is evidence for a shift in language use and competence as a result of an integrative attitude to migration by the respondents, governed mostly by practical reasons.