Sociolinguistic Survey Research Articles

Linguistic dynamics and language policy in Kazakhstan

The research relevance of language policy methods, as well as the current language processes in society, is predefined by an urgent need to form nation-states with their own language and culture. The research aims to create an idea of the language changes in Kazakhstan during the period of independence and assess the language policy and its prospects at the present stage. The research employed the following methods: comparative-comparative, statistical (basic), analytical-synthetic, and graphic (auxiliary). This research examined the main parameters of language modernisation in Kazakhstan in recent years, studying the key perspectives regarding language policy. The results of the population census in Kazakhstan for 1999, 2009 and 2021 were analysed in the research. Statistical data was presented in the form of figure diagrams and in tabular form to increase the efficiency of the perception of information at the expense of clarity. A comparison was made between different stages of the formation of the Kazakh language identity (from the beginning of the twentieth century to the modern stage). Particular attention was paid to the study of the parameters of the educational system and the implementation of the concept of the trinity of languages studied within the framework of secondary and higher schools. The modern language policy of Kazakhstan was evaluated in terms of the prospects for the coming years (up to 2025). The dynamics of changes concerning the language in Kazakh society were tracked. This research can be used for further linguistic research related to sociolinguistic surveys, studying the language situation in different countries around the world, and forming an idea of how different methods work in the field of language modernisation.

Language Attitudes in a Historic Latino Community: The Case of Spanish in Northwest Indiana

Despite the burgeoning Latino population in the Midwest, research on language attitudes in this region remains sparse. This study addresses this gap by examining language attitudes and beliefs towards Spanish in the Northwest Indiana region, one of the oldest Latino immigration gateways in the Midwest. Data collected from a 2018–2019 sociolinguistic survey, involving 236 participants representative of the local Latino community, form the basis of the analysis. The study aims to elucidate attitudes towards various Spanish dialects, particularly the local variety. Findings indicate widespread acceptance of the local Spanish variety, with participants viewing its divergence from Mexican or Puerto Rican Spanish as normal and inevitable. Despite perceptions of linguistic mixing with English, the community’s Spanish is valued as an effective communication tool and cultural asset, including in educational settings. This positive attitude towards a stigmatized linguistic variety suggests a preference for any form of Spanish over none, particularly in situations of low Spanish language maintenance. The study of language attitudes shows that speakers will tend to reproduce in their speech new ways of speaking that they find acceptable. This generalized behavior, in turn, leads toward linguistic change.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING SPECIFIC ENGLISH ALLITERATION IN RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE NAMES AND ADVERTISING SLOGANS

The article is devoted to the analysis of the effectiveness of the use of specific English-language alliteration in Russian-language ergonyms and advertising slogans. The purpose of this work is to determine the degree of emotional impact of this stylistic device on native Russian speakers and, as a result, its effectiveness for use in creating ergonyms and advertising slogans in the Russian language. The objectives of this study include the analysis of differences in approaches to the definition of the stylistic device “alliteration” in the English-speaking and Russianspeaking linguistic traditions; collection and analysis of Russian-language ergonyms and advertising slogans, built on the basis of specific English alliteration, by the method of continuous sampling. The research also looks into the functions of alliteration techniques in the Russian-language ergonyms and slogans, includes a sociolinguistic survey in the form of a questionnaire among 125 native speakers of the Russian language aged 18 to 40, of different professions, with University degrees. The paper provides examples of Russian-language names and advertising slogans created using specific English alliteration. The results of the study indicate that specific English alliteration plays a role in promoting the attractive and aesthetic functions through ergonyms. The analysis of the sociolinguistic questionnaire showed that in five out of the seven proposed categories, the survey participants preferred ergonyms and advertising slogans created using this technique. Taking into account the results of the study it can be concluded, that today a specific English alliteration is an effective linguistic technique used in the Russian language for creating ergonyms and advertising slogans.

What About the Indigenous Languages of the Plains?: The Case of Kurukh in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT More than 30 indigenous linguistic communities live in Bangladesh. Many of these languages are at risk of endangerment as the speakers see the functionality of their mother tongues diminish gradually. The purpose of the study is to examine the linguistic scenario of Kurukh, one of the indigenous languages spoken in the north-western parts of Bangladesh, with references to some of the essential concepts in relation to language shift and vitality. The author conducted a sociolinguistic survey with five groups of adult community members and four school-going children. Four notable community members were separately interviewed on a semi-structured questionnaire. The data were thematically analysed to understand the factors at play in shaping the status of Kurukh in Bangladesh. In a context of language endangerment, the study has significant implications for the policymakers as well as the community members as it provides insights into the language dynamics and the community aspirations.

Sakha Language in a Northern Industrial Monotown: Linguistic Distribution in Speech Repertoire of Sakha People

This study explores the functioning of the Yakut language in the conditions of the northern industrial monotown Mirny (Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)). The study identifies the features of linguistic distribution in the speech repertoire of ethnic Sakha based on data from a sociolinguistic survey and interviews (n=279). Descriptive statistical methods and content analysis are employed. The results reveal an asymmetric nature of Yakut-Russian bilingualism with Russian language predominance in public communication. While Sakha individuals exhibit a high level of language competence in the Yakut language, its application is limited. In familial and friendly communication, the Yakut language maintains significant positions; however, its demand is minimal in the professional-business sphere, especially in industry. Among individuals with higher education, the percentage of Russian speakers at work reaches 68.34% compared to 55.77% among those with only secondary vocational education. Russian language dominates in management, service sectors, and law enforcement (75—100%). Only in fields such as healthcare, education, and culture does the Yakut language maintain strong positions. The native language is primarily perceived by Sakha as a symbolic marker of identity, yielding to Russian in social prestige and communicative power. The vitality prospects of the Yakut language in the city are assessed ambiguously and are linked to the effectiveness of language policy in key institutional contexts (education, media, government).

Functioning of ergonyms of beauty salons in the city of Yaroslavl (according to the data of sociolinguistic experiment)

The article considers regional peculiarities of nomination in the field of beauty salons' ergonyms on the example of names of the city of Yaroslavl. The questionnaire of the sociolinguistic survey included questions allowing to evaluate the ergonyms of beauty salons in the city of Yaroslavl according to the following criteria: the correspondence of the name to the sphere of activity of the organization; the degree of attractiveness of the studied ergonyms for respondents; the reasons for the attractiveness/unattractiveness of the ergonyms for respondents; options for transforming the nomination for the convenience of using it in speech; the degree of importance of the name of the establishment for the consumer of goods/services in the process of choosing an organization to visit. As a result of analyzing the respondents' answers, the following conclusions were obtained. The names of the majority of the studied ergonyms correspond to the beauty sphere. The most attractive name of a beauty salon for Yaroslavl residents is Beauty Territory, which is characterized by correspondence to the sphere of activity of the organization and «beauty of sound». The importance of the name of a beauty salon when choosing a place to visit cannot be determined unequivocally: the answers of the respondents were distributed approximately equally, with 13.2 % of respondents not paying attention to the name when choosing a beauty salon. When using ergonyms in speech, the townspeople most often use elliptization, univerbation, use of the identifier only.

Ukrainian–Russian bilingualism in the war-affected migrant and refugee communities in Austria and Germany: a survey-based study on language attitudes

IntroductionThis paper provides an initial exploration of Ukrainian–Russian bilingualism in the context of the war-affected migration from Ukraine to Austria and Germany. While extensive research exists on various aspects of Ukrainian– Russian bilingualism in relation to Ukraine itself, thus far no studies have been conducted on this bilingualism in the diasporic context, i.e., as a language of the first and subsequential generations with a migrant background in Austria and Germany.MethodsTo address this research gap, our paper examines the language attitudes of two respondent groups with a Ukrainian background in the two countries: migrants and refugees who left Ukraine after 2014 and those who left after Russia’s invasion in February 2022. In the framework of a sociolinguistic survey, we describe their current attitudes regarding the use of Ukrainian and Russian, among others, in relation to the actual and intended use of the language(s) in the multilingual context of migration. The survey eliciting information on demographic information, language proficiency, language attitudes and language use was conducted on 406 Ukrainians in two host countries (Austria: n = 103; Germany: n = 306). First, we compared self-rated proficiency in Ukrainian and Russian as well as attitudes and use of these languages. Second, we applied a network modelling analysis to determine the nature of relationships between these variables.Results and discussionThe results indicated that proficiency in Ukrainian and in Russian were the strongest nodes in the model affecting language use and language attitudes toward the respective languages. Our data analysis focused on the pragmatic and symbolic value of Russian and Ukrainian playing a crucial role in the language vitality in multilingual settings. The paper discusses the imbalanced correlation of the symbolic and pragmatic value of Ukrainian and Russian in the diasporic Ukrainian communities. While Ukrainian has gained a higher symbolic status, Russian maintains a better pragmatic one, despite its negative symbolic status. However, we anticipate that the increasing symbolic value of Ukrainian and the diminishing value of Russian will lead to an increase in the use of Ukrainian also in Russian-dominant bilingual groups of Ukrainian migrants and refugees, even as an insider-code in hermetic minority groups.

Principales rasgos gramaticales del español de Costa Rica

Abstract This work offers an in-depth description of the main morphosyntactic (and lexical) features found in present Costa Rican Spanish, a lesser-known Central American variety. Text corpora and sociolinguistic surveys help us to provide an updated grammatical overview, which takes into account most categories: nouns and adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions and idioms, and is illustrated by examples taken both from formal and informal settings. By comparing these features with previous grammatical descriptions, this study helps in identifying some common American features – such as the use of hasta and una mi amiga – as well as some specific patterns – such as the prominence of several suffixes and parasynthetic verbs, as well as some adverbs – in present-day Costa Rican Spanish, some of which remain to be incorporated in the Academy grammar.

A Comparative Lexical Analysis of Kazakh, Russian and English Children’s Folklore

Occupying a special position in the oral folk art of any nation, children’s folklore is a complex field, which interrelates two areas: folklore for children and folklore created by children, learned from adults, and passed on from some children to other children. Human world and values are reflected in folklore - thus the ethnographic study of children’s folklore contributes to the understanding of the specifics of various cultures, and children’s participation in them. The purpose of the study is to describe children’s folklore in the Kazakh, Russian, and English languages from the linguistic and cultural comparative perspectives. The importance of identifying the lexical and phraseological features of different genres of children’s folklore and describing their common and culturally marked characteristics lies in the fact that despite the availability of ethnographic studies of children’s folklore in some cultures, there doesn’t exist a single research on cross-cultural comparative perspectives of various genres of children’s folklore. The study employed analytical descriptive, and comparative methods. The research data were collected through the online sociolinguistic surveys parallelly conducted in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. Texts of children’s folklore in English were taken from the collections Nursery Rhymes and Mother Goose’s Songs . The amount of research data made nearly 2000 Kazakh, Russian and English children’s folklore texts. The study revealed that the genre variety of children’s folklore leaves an imprint on the language of each genre. The lexical and phraseological analysis of various genres of children’s folklore demonstrated an active use of neologisms, transrational language and personal names. Children’s folklore is characterized not only by genre and intragenre dynamics, but also by historical changes.

Bilingual Linguistic and National Identity (A Case Study of the Sociolinguistic Surveys in Ukraine)

The article explores the problems of the correlation of linguistic, ethnic, and national identity, and defines related terms and concepts. It also considers the issues of bilingual individuals’ linguistic and national identity. The practical analysis of the current language situation in Ukraine, defined as bilingual, is based on a sociolinguistic survey from May 2022. The theoretical conclusions of the research define ethnic identity as the awareness of an individual’s belonging to a specific group in society and, as a result, sharing values and guidelines for their worldview and communicative behaviour with this group’s representatives. According to the survey, one of the distinguishing features of how Ukrainian citizens determine their national identity is the citizenship criterion. Therefore, national and linguistic identity is a historically changing phenomenon that, under certain conditions and at different times, is determined by the awareness of belonging to a social group within the boundaries of a single state and is associated with the state language. This identity is a two-sided semiotic, discursive construction that manifests signs to distinguish “Us” from “Them”. Currently, in Ukraine, amid the war with Russia, bilingual Ukrainians almost unanimously identify themselves as Ukrainians by nationality, which indicates unity and patriotism. Nevertheless, there are no established criteria for defining ethnic, national, and linguistic identities. The significance and relevance of the situation determine the discursive construction claiming hegemony at this historical moment under these historical conditions. In this regard, national identity is believed to be a dynamic process conditioned by the discursive construction prevailing over a given period. It unites the nation when it faces challenges to cope with.

Языковые установки «отцов и детей» из национальных школ в условиях большого многоязычного города

Using the example of the capitals of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Republic of Tatarstan, the linguistic attitudes of parents and children from national schools in the context of the ecology shift are revealed. A theoretical approach to the study of language installation is proposed, based on its understanding as the sum of cognitive, affective and conative components and on the idea of ecology of its shift in generational and regional aspects. The conducted sociolinguistic survey of “fathers and children” and interviews with experts from Kazan and Yakutsk showed a consistent combination of attitudes of participants in national education in Russian and Yakut / Tatar languages. The dissonance of the linguistic attitudes of the participants in national education is the practice of using Russian and national languages in various public spheres. Therefore, the actualized conative component of the language attitudes of parents from national schools, who seek to compensate for their desire to preserve their native language at the expense of such institutions, looks quite natural. The ecology of the shift in language attitudes is characterized by differences between the older and younger generations, between regions and can develop at the intersection of generational and regional factors, which was found in the cognitive and affective components.

The value of language skills in Latvia: From socio-economic inequality to multilingual awareness

Abstract This paper investigates the opposition between the realities and ideologies surrounding multilingualism in Latvia. Building mostly on Bourdieu’s theory of language in society, and multilingual awareness as a concept, we study the socio-economic value of multilingual repertoires in a multilingual setting (Latvia), and language users’ awareness of the link between their language competences (Latvian, Russian, English) and socio-economic status. By analysing sociolinguistic survey data, we demonstrate, firstly, that different multilingual repertoires are linked with differences in family income, level of education, and labour market position. Secondly, our data indicate that people generally do not acknowledge the link between their language skills and socio-economic status. To explore this further, we zoom in on language ideologies in formal education. We examine data on the multilingual awareness of Latvian language teachers from focus-group interviews and show that they tend to construe languages in competition, emphasise the symbolic value of Latvian, and ignore the multilingualism of their pupils and broader society. The study illuminates the dissonance between the multilingual realities of a post-Soviet EU country in which multilingual repertoires carry different values for individuals, and the Latvian-centred ideologies (disseminated by the teachers) that leave the presence of multilingualism and accompanying issues unacknowledged.

L’occitan et le développement socio-économique et culturel du territoire : l’exemple du PNR Aubrac

While keeping linguistic and socio-cultural diversity could be one of the conditions for the development of vulnerable areas and one of the challenges facing future generations, this publication sets out to examine the place of Occitan in the enhancement, development and promotion of territory, and more specifically within the Aubrac Regional Natural Park (PNR Aubrac). Significant examples of the productivity and exploitation of this ethnosociolinguistic richness are presented based on a toponymic survey, a sociolinguistic survey and a corpus of interviews carried out in 2022 within the PNR Aubrac. So, while the heritage value of Occitan could be a way to enhance and develop the area, we need to look at the way in which the area's institutions, local protagonists and residents are taking advantage of this ethnosociolinguistic vitality: how are structured the actions and measures to promote Occitan, and what are their issues?

Empirical linguistics: A cautious obituary

The present paper is intended as a contribution to an ancient controversy about the nature of linguistic research. Dionysius Thrax, the author of the first extant European grammar, claimed that the study of language is “empirical”. We argue that linguistics, as long as it strives for empirical adequacy, must be essentially data-oriented, reflecting what may be called sociolinguistically valid collective intuitions. Using data from the Hungarian National Sociolinguistic Survey and the Budapest Sociolinguistic Interview project, we show the empirical inadequacy of two structural grammars of Hungarian published in 1998. In contrast to their titles (namely: “a grammar of Hungarian”), these structural grammars describe Codified Standard Hungarian (CSH), hence, in some cases, they ignore the grammaticality judgments of more than half of the native speakers of Hungarian in Hungary. It is also shown that studying people’s actual speech leads to important linguistic discoveries, e.g. the final -n of the inessive case-ending of CSH -ban, -ben ‘in (location)’ is pronounced in only one-third of instances in normal Hungarian speech.

Development of bilingualism in the Republic of Tuva: dichotomy of pragmatism and identity values

The development of official bilingualism in the Republic of Tuva is considered in terms of the linguistic justice theory and the dichotomy of pragmatism-identity values. The specificity of the functionally first/functionally second language dichotomy in the Republic of Tuva is that is does not correlate with the conventional dichotomy of majority/minority languages. To conduct practical research, the authors collected data from the most recent population census in Russia, as well as conducted sociolinguistic surveys and interviews in the Republic of Tuva between 2020 and 2022. The study has revealed a clear pragmatic value of the Tuvan language in family, friendship, professional, and virtual communication to be closely correlated with the identity value. There are several tendencies to be noted. First, functioning as a second language for most Tuvan adults and serving as the primary language for the majority within the Russian Federation, the Russian language retains strong positions in the Tuvan-Russian bilingual space. Second, the diminishing influence of the titular languages in Russian republics’ education system amplifies the practical significance of the Russian language. Third, given the Russian language predominance in children’s entertainment content in the Internet space, one can observe a rapid shift towards Russian becoming the primary or sole language of communication among children, even in monoethnic rural areas like Tuvan. To conclude, the aforementioned trends have necessitated the implementation of a suitable regional language policy and planning tool, like the State Support Strategy for the Tuvan language, which was approved by the local government in 2023.

Language Distribution in Sakha Family Communication: Traditions and Innovations

The article explores the issue of language reproduction in family communication among the Yakut people in the context of transformational tendencies in the development of urban families during the industrialization era. Using a multidisciplinary approach and sociolinguistic surveys conducted in 2007, 2014, and 2021, the study aims to identify dynamic changes in the functioning of the native (ethnic) language in family communication among rural and urban Yakut people. The results show that the ethnic function of the Yakut language is relevant only for half of urban Yakut families (52.1%) and 89.2% of rural Yakut families. In the context of general social transformation of the family institution, the main findings indicate a reduction in the volume of communication with children in everyday communication, a decrease in intergenerational family communication space on the ethnic language (grandmothers communicating with grandchildren), and a slight increase in parental communication with children. The social function of the ethnic language in rural family communication remains stable due to relative mono-ethnicity and geographical remoteness, but the introduction of digitization into everyday language use leads to cases of younger children switching to another language.

Sociolinguistic Survey of the Chin Speech Varieties Spoken along the Dalet Stream, Ann Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar

This report presents the results of a sociolinguistic survey fieldwork trip to the language groups along the Dalet Stream in Ann Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar. The primary purpose of this survey was to determine the need for additional language development among these speakers. A secondary purpose was to investigate how ready these groups are for language development and how unified they are. The third purpose was to determine how many and which varieties might best be selected for additional literature development among these groups. The survey team investigated these questions through wordlists, questionnaires, participatory tools, and recorded text testing (RTT). The team learned that the Dalet Stream people are not adequately served by Burmese literature. There is a need and desire for additional vernacular language development. The Dalet Stream people are interested in literature development; however, promotion is needed. Language vitality is robust among most speech varieties, and there is a sizable population of speakers. Some educated people are interested in helping develop literature to maintain their people group’s culture and language. However, interest in language development and literacy must still be built in the broader community.

Amish Attitudes and Identity in Relation to Pennsylvania Dutch

Pennsylvania Dutch is the language of hearth and home for most Amish. As such, it serves the communication purposes of the in-group and is tightly interwoven with Amish identity. In this paper, I analyze data from a sociolinguistic survey that poses questions about language use, attitudes, identity, and religion. Current and former members of various Amish groups participated in this survey along with nonaffiliated descendants of the Amish. This study finds that each group—current, former, and descended—tends to have a different relationship with the language. Current members of the Amish and/or more proficient speakers unsurprisingly identify more strongly with the Pennsylvania Dutch language and their Amish background. Individual and region-based differences also emerge, demonstrating the complexity of the issues at hand and the diversity of Amish community practices and expectations surrounding language use. How current, former, and descended Amish view and engage with the language that sets them ethnically, religiously, and culturally apart from mainstream society has much to reveal about the interplay between minority languages and perceptions of ethnoreligious identity.

Current Linguistic Situation in Village of Sebyan-Kyuyol in Kobyai District of Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

This paper examines the linguistic situation in the village of Sebyan-Kyuyol in the Kobyai district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), where the Lamunkhin Even people, one of the indigenous minority groups of the North, reside. The focus is on the structural and substantive characteristics of the linguistic situation. Data was obtained through participant observation and sociolinguistic surveys among 81 respondents from various age, gender, and social groups of the Even community. Using a comprehensive approach that includes linguistic and social aspects, the distribution and functions of Even, Russian, and Yakut languages in different spheres of communication are analyzed. It is shown that the linguistic situation is three-component, with the Even language being dominant but facing some challenges from Russian and Yakut languages in certain spheres, as well as among the younger generation who show less interest in their native language. Factors influencing the viability and maintenance of the Even language are identified. Problems and prospects for its development are revealed. It is established that the linguistic situation in Sebyan-Kyuyol village is relatively favorable and stable, but requires constant attention and support from the government and community.

«Строить и жить помогает»: о роли и функциях этнической песни в жизни московских чувашей и марийцев

The paper studies the role and functions of songs in an ethnic language in the life of representatives of the internal diaspora. The article is based on the results of sociolinguistic surveys conducted in Chuvash and Mari diasporas of the Moscow region in 2014–2017 and 2019–2021, respectively. The researcher employed the following sociolinguistic methods: direct observation, participant observation, structured interviews of respondents, documentary recording of responses, statistical data analysis. One of the blocks in the sociolinguistic questionnaire included such aspects as the language – in – culture and ethnic culture maintenance in the context of the vitality of ethnic language. Ethnic culture, along with the ethnic language, is one of the key markers of ethnic identity in both samples. As the results of the survey demonstrate, songs in Mari or Chuvash occupy a significant place in the respondents’ life. Several functions of the ethnic song were identified: adaptation to new living conditions; co-optation of new members (i. e., through cultural ethnic events); creative self-realization; language learning (i. e., ethnic songs used for educational purposes in language courses); initiation into language and culture for new speakers of Chuvash and Mari. The role of ethnic song in the revitalization of the language has been equally determined.