Abstract
The research deals with the topical issue of changing the ‘ethnolinguistic and cultural area’, a shift in the system of ethnolinguistic and cultural orientations and values of the people. The problem is discussed from the perspective of anthroponymic material in the families of ethnic Germans born in Russia, whose ancestors settled on Russian lands since the reign of Catherine II. The primary purpose of the study is to carry out a comprehensive analysis of some (often controversial) aspects of (self)identification of the linguistic personality of Russian Germans from the perspective of the corpus of personal names. Using the methods of functional historical analysis, continuous sampling, interview, systemisation, and interpretation, the authors of this study, based on the analysis of a relatively large corpus of collected personal names, as well as based on answers of 200 respondents, who are descendants of Russian Germans, attempted to determine which names are chosen for children and what language Russian Germans speak today. The problem is considered from a synergistic perspective: sociolinguistics, linguoculturology and ethnolinguistics, as well as anthroponymics. The authors conclude that the choice of names in the families of Russian Germans of German/non-German origin depends on several factors— traditions of the family; place of residence; the level of education; profession/specialisation. In the anthroponymicon of Russian Germans, under the influence of personal names of the surrounding ethnic groups, socio-cultural and historical changes result in internal changes in language units.
Highlights
Materials and MethodsOne of the most rapidly developing areas in modern domestic and Western humanities is the study of a wide range of issues related to the formation and development of nations and national identity
Within the ethnic boundaries of its speakers, is a means of communication and the memory and history of its people, its culture and experience of cognitive activity; it is the knowledge of the surrounding reality that has been fixed from generation to generation; in other words, language is a cognitive base of an ethnic group
The authors are more interested in the concept of Russian-German identity, which is substantiated by Baumgertner and Wormsbecher: they recognise the Russian Germans as a separate young ethnic group that is different from the closely related old German nation and has specific features compared to the Russian nation
Summary
Materials and MethodsOne of the most rapidly developing areas in modern domestic and Western humanities is the study of a wide range of issues related to the formation and development of nations and national identity. The 2010 Census registered 394,138 Germans in Russia, that is, just within eight years, the number of Germans decreased by one third – 203,074 people (34%) less than in 2002 Such significant discrepancies in the number and composition of representatives of the ethnic group in the near decades are not observed anymore in relation to any other nation. The point is primarily in political and economic conditions (after the 1990s, as many Russian Germans left for Germany for permanent residency), but the spiritual-moral, historicalsocial background in the country plays an important role (Magsumov, 2019). It has kept a certain negative attitude towards both Germans and everything German. We discuss the methods and methodological issues linked to our research
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