The Language Situation in the Russian German Ethnic Community of Molchanovo District, Tomsk Region

Abstract

This article presents the analysis of the language situation, done as part of sociolinguistic study among representatives of the German etnic minority in the Molchanovo district of Tomsk region which has been a place of concentrated residence of German immigrants since the second half of the 20th century. Using recorded monologic and dialogic speech as well as questionnaire data, the authors identify subject-specific areas that have communicative significance in the speech behavior of Russian Germans in the area. The purpose of this article is to examine the functioning of the German dialect in the speech of representatives of the German ethnic minority from the Molchanovo district of Tomsk region as an exogloss component of the language situation. The study uses data from a sociolinguistic analysis of the language situation conducted on the territory of the Molchanovo district of Tomsk region in 2017. The main research methods are observation, comparison and interpretation, oral interviews and questionnaires. The analysis of the language situation in the indicated region has revealed a significant dominance of the Russian language over German in all areas of everyday communication. Thus, 99% of the Russian German surveyed use the Russian language, which has become their native language (54%) and serves as the main means of communication among the informants. Since, due to its long-term residence in a Russian-speaking environment, the Molchanovo German ethnic minority has been isolated from the German-speaking parent community in Germany, this has brought about a widespread use of Russian in oral (72%) and written (63%) speech as well as communication in the workplace (72%). Of no small importance is the belief of these Russian Germans in the importance of the Russian language for the development of Tomsk region (63%) as well as the use of Russian in religious practice when reading texts and prayers (45%), caused by more than fifty years of living in the area dominated by a different religious tradition (Russian Orthodox). Thus the language situation among Russian Germans in the Molchanovo district of Tomsk region is characterized by a significant dominance of the Russian language as its endoglossic exponent.