Language, Religion And Civic Identity

Abstract

The language of communication is one of the most powerful factors in the formation of ethnic identity. It results from the fact that language frames arise in phylogenesis from the interaction of the ethnic group with its natural and social environment. Language, thus, is the bearer of patterns of behaviour, cognitive and value orientations, as well as axiologically significant attitudes. By the material of the pilot sociological survey of students of higher educational institutions of Rostov-on-Don, the authors establish the strength of the connection between the language of communication and ethnic and religious identity. To achieve this goal, the authors, firstly, analyse the reaction of students from different ethnic groups to the natural expansion of the Russian language in their family communication, and, secondly, establish the value of the observed Renaissance of religious ideology for the process of ethnic consolidation, reconstruction and modelling of ethnic and civil identity. The analysis shows that the language of interethnic communication is one of the key factors in the formation of national identity. In addition, the study established that religion is an equally relevant factor in the formation of ethnic and inter-ethnic identities, the understanding of the dogmas of which is carried out through the language of communication, primarily within the family. General conclusion of the study: in a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional community, the language of inter-ethnic communication is the fundamental factor of the civil identity formation, and there is a consolidating influence of the religion of the dominant ethnic group in the state.