Knowledge of Written Literary Norms of Bulgarian Language and Social Exclusion

Abstract

language attitudes; literary competence; linguistic behaviour; Bulgarian language, social exclusion; risk of povertyThe article defends the thesis that insufficient knowledge of standard language is a high risk factor for social exclusion. The work focuses on one aspect of social exclusion – the inability to form skills. The lack of basic competences, such as literary competence, is seen as a prerequisite for poverty. Based on a rich empirical material from a nationally representative survey of language attitudes, a high degree of lack of attitude awareness of the norm was found among two groups of respondents (living in misery and with an education lower than basic). Observations on the overall results of language test examining respondents' language behaviour, as well as observations on the linguistic behaviour of these two groups of respondents in relation to the application of each of seven written norms, show that language behaviour is twice as often deterministic by material than educational status. This proves that a lack of specific language skills increases the risk of poverty and is thus a high risk factor for social exclusion.