Sociolinguistic Survey Research Articles

Exploring sociolinguistic attitudes among multilingual youth in Kazakhstan

Relevance. This study explores the complex interplay between the Kazakh and Russian languages in Kazakhstan, examining how these languages coexist and interchange at individual and societal levels due to their paradigmatic, vertical linguistic relationships stored in native speakers' consciousness.Purpose. The purpose of the study is to conduct a sociolinguistic investigation into the sociolinguistic attitudes of Kazakhstani youth in a multilingual environment.Methodology. The research employed a sociological survey using a closed-ended questionnaire for data collection, which was then analyzed and modeled. The study was based on a comprehensive sociolinguistic survey of 96 students aged 17-20 from the Kazakh departments of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University and Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University. For the first time, a comparative analysis of language attitudes among Kazakh youth was conducted.Results. The findings reveal the nature of their sociolinguistic attitudes at micro and macro-social levels. The analysis shows that the Russian language exerts significant influence on language loyalty and attitudes. Within the context of Kazakh-Russian bilingualism, Kazakh youth tend to symbolize their native language, indicating a transformation in their linguistic consciousness driven by socio-global mechanisms. While Russian serves a functional and instrumental role, the native Kazakh language holds communicative and personal significance for them.Conclusions. The practical application of this research is to contribute towards promoting linguistic purity, raising linguistic consciousness, and strengthening the social significance of the Kazakh language among the nation�s youth.

THE LATEST SOCIOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS IN UKRAINE AS A DATABASE IN LINGUISTIC AND CONFLICT STUDIES

The object of this research is sociolinguistic surveys as a source of information in resolving linguistic conflicts, which we understand as a clash of national and linguistic interests of representatives of different language communities due to the inequality of language statuses within a bilingual or multilingual society. The subject of the study is the language issue in Ukraine, which has been used by political elites during election campaigns throughout the years of independence to mobilise their electorate and speculate. According to many researchers, the language issue in Ukraine is directly related to the definition of national identity, so sociolinguistic surveys include questions about national identity, among other things. The purpose of this paper is to try to determine the correlations between the political and ideological agenda in the country and the results of the polls. Of course, the Russian aggression could not but affect the language issue in the country. Along with the influence of official political and ideological discourses, the so-called agency is beginning to influence language policy in the country, as language activists or agents are involved in language disputes, which has been the subject of separate scientific studies in European and domestic works. Results. By comparing the results of sociolinguistic surveys throughout the years of independence, scholars are trying to identify social trends in resolving language conflicts. However, political elites continue to use the language issue to divide society, despite the fact that sociolinguistic data show that the language issue was secondary for Ukrainians, at least in the pre-war period. Conclusions. Even the optimistic results of the surveys, which do confirm the existence of certain, but not so significant, differences between the linguistic orientations of different parts of the Ukrainian population, do not provide guarantees of conflict-free coexistence on linguistic grounds, since competition between political elites can again present the language issue as a conflictogenic one and people’s views as polarised and uncompromising through the construction of relevant political and ideological discourses.

Сохранение миноритарных языков и экономические факторы (на примере татарского и карельского языков)

This article argues the importance of studying the economic factors that influence the preservation of minority languages and language choice. Economic and sociolinguistic methods of studying the relationship between minority language proficiency and labor income are considered. The empirical research is made within the framework of an approach close to the ethnography of language policy, i.e. through the prism of personal, subjective views and assessments of “ordinary” people. The empirical case is made up by two republics of the Russian Federation — Tatarstan and Karelia. The material was the data of sociolinguistic surveys, interviews and ethnographic observations collected in these regions in 2021 and 2022. The empirical analysis revealed both the absence of the influence of minority language competence on income, and the presence of spheres and economic niches where such an influence exists. Employment opportunities, earnings and part-time work are available in these republics in the field of science, culture, media, and creative industries. The research also revealed the role of economic factor in the hierarchy of people’s needs. The needs of (linguistic) identity, the desire to preserve “language and roots” take the second place until the basic needs that push people to choose the language of “bread and job” are satisfied. At the end, the article outlines the directions for further research on the relationship between the economic factor and minority languages.

Language Attitudes of Polish Youth in Lithuania

The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of Polish youth in Lithuania towards the Lithuanian, Russian, English, and Polish languages. The material has been drawn from qualitative research conducted through questionnaires. In order to summarize the results of the research, 147 questionnaires completed by respondents aged 16–34, who declared Polish nationality, were selected. The survey was done between February 20 and March 3, 2023, via Google Forms. Results of the 2023 attitude survey were compared with those of the 2010 sociolinguistic survey. 98.6% (n = 145) of the young respondents consider Polish to be their mother tongue or one of their mother tongues, which is 18.4% higher than the result obtained in the 2010 survey. Preferences for the most beautiful, the necessary, the most common, and the most prestigious language were compared with the preferences that were described in my article (Geben 2013). Results of the statistical analysis show that Lithuanian is the most frequently mentioned language among the most necessary languages, but English is still the language the most in need for young respondents (63.9%, n = 94). Polish retains its position as the most beautiful language for those whose mother tongue is Polish. Polish has become the most common language for young respondents (67.3%, n = 99), with Russian still in a second place in this category (47.6%, n = 70).
 The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of Polish youth in Lithuania towards the Lithuanian, Russian, English, and Polish languages. The material has been drawn from qualitative research conducted through questionnaires. In order to summarize the results of the research, 147 questionnaires completed by respondents aged 16–34, who declared Polish nationality, were selected. The survey was done between February 20 and March 3, 2023, via Google Forms. Results of the 2023 attitude survey were compared with those of the 2010 sociolinguistic survey. 98.6% (n = 145) of the young respondents consider Polish to be their mother tongue or one of their mother tongues, which is 18.4% higher than the result obtained in the 2010 survey. Preferences for the most beautiful, the necessary, the most common, and the most prestigious language were compared with the preferences that were described in my article (Geben 2013). Results of the statistical analysis show that Lithuanian is the most frequently mentioned language among the most necessary languages, but English is still the language the most in need for young respondents (63.9%, n = 94). Polish retains its position as the most beautiful language for those whose mother tongue is Polish. Polish has become the most common language for young respondents (67.3%, n = 99), with Russian still in a second place in this category (47.6%, n = 70).

The sociolinguistic survey of the New General Atlas of Hungarian Dialects project and its partial results

The sociolinguistic survey of the New General Atlas of Hungarian Dialects project and its partial results

Are Cantonese (Yue) and Hokkien (Southern Min) contested languages? Language planning and language attitudes in China and Malaysia

ABSTRACT Both among mainland China speakers and within the sizeable Chinese minority that lives in Malaysia, language varieties are categorised into two main groups: ‘languages’ on the one hand, and ‘dialects’ on the other. ‘Languages’ often enjoy at least some degree of official protection, have a written form, are used in some high domains, etc., whereas ‘dialects’ are supposed to be mostly oral languages spoken in low domains. Many of the varieties considered ‘dialects’ are however more accurately described as full-fledged languages that only share common origins with Mandarin, in the same way as Romance languages share common origins with Latin. Among these, Cantonese and Hokkien, the most widely spoken heritage languages in Malaysia, are notable examples. After an outline of the terminology employed to refer to Cantonese and Hokkien, this study examines the linguistic situation in China and Malaysia and the language planning activities carried out to maintain these two Chinese varieties. The methodology used to collect the data is then introduced, i.e. a sociolinguistic survey on the respondents’ opinion on language planning strategies and on the use of the terms ‘language’ and ‘dialect’. There follow a presentation of the data, a discussion of the results and some general conclusions.

L’activité phatique et régulatrice dans la conversation en fulfulde-funangeere : aspects interactionnels et relationnels

Phatic and Feedback Activity in Conversation in Fulfulde-Funangeere: interactional and relational aspects
 This article focuses on the collective construction of discourse through the prism of phatic and feedback activity. The empirical framework is the informal conversation in Fulfulde. The aim of the analysis is to describe the linguistic materials used by the participants to perform the roles of speaker and addressee, respectively. The analysis focuses on the processes of establishing and maintaining communicative contact on the one hand, and on the markers of the addressee's commitment on the other. The empirical data used are the result of a sociolinguistic survey carried out through non-participant observation, a questionnaire, and the recording of five conversations in Fulfulde-Funangeere in the city of Maroua, Cameroon. The study is based on the hypothesis that phatic and backchannel activities are involved in the interactional mechanisms of synchronization of exchanges, but also have relational functions. The analyses take advantage of interctionist epistemology, notably conversational analysis (Sacks et al, 1974, Traverso, 2011) and the interpersonal relationship in discourse in interaction (Goffman, 1974; Kerbrat-Orecchioni, 1992, 2005). The results of the study underline the polyfunctional character of the linguistic units mobilized by the interactants to maintain contact and mark their socio-cognitive commitment to the exchange. It also emerges that the linguistic units identified provide both interactional and relational microfunctions, confirming the basic hypothesis. In fact, the importance given to speech in the interaction forces the participants to engage emotionally, cognitively, and socially in the interaction. The interaction then becomes the place par excellence where the socio-affective stakes are played out: appearing benevolent, suitable, highlighting one's good education, showing deference and altruism, maintaining and consolidating interpersonal ties. In short, this study of the phatic and feedback activity contributes to shed light on some aspects of the conversational style of the peoples of the Sudano-Sahelian area of the Far North of Cameroon.

LANGUAGE AND NATIONAL IDENTITY BILINGUAL (ON THE BASIS OF THE2022 SURVEY)

Background. Much research has been devoted to the problem of language situation in Ukraine. But in this study it has been analyzed on the basis of the newest sociolinguistic survey in 2022. The article “Language and national identity bilingual (on the basis of the 2022 survey)” deals with the problem of Ukrainians’ attitude to the Ukrainian and Russian languages and their identity. Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to identify the attitude of Ukrainians to the language problems after the war and analyze their thoughts on the Ukrainian and Russian identity and usage Languages within bilingual population. Methods. The research was conducted by analyzing the results of surveys that were distributed among 2005 respondents across the whole country, except for the territories that are out of control of Ukrainian government. Results. Political processes shape the relevant discourses, which, in turn, has an impact on linguistic and national identification. People increasingly call themselves Ukrainians precisely because they live in Ukraine, regardless of their origin, and transfer this civic identity to the category of nationality, which has traditionally been ethnic. The bloody war, which was started by the aggressor-country in Ukraine, influenced the choice of language and national identity of Ukrainians. The results of the survey have shown that bilingualism exist in Ukraine. However, the main problem is that most people do not understand the nature of not only language conflicts but also the political ones. The paper considers the fact that now people do not resist the legislative consolidation of various provisions regarding the Ukrainian language. So the task of Ukrainian language policy is to increase the amount of the Ukrainian language. We can conclude that the Ukrainian language will become the main one in all spheres of communication in the future if society and government understand the essence of language problems and try to force out the Russian language of formal and informal communication. Ukrainians associate the Russian language with the language of the attackers and consider it “toxic”, consciously choosing Ukrainian as their language of communication. As a result, Ukrainian will replace it as it must be the state language. Extralinguistic factors led to changes in the language situation in the country, where the overwhelming majority already understands the need to speak Ukrainian. Axiological and emotional components in the definition of national identity have led to a decline in the status of the Russian language and its low level of influence on the national identification of bilingual citizens of Ukraine.

Reflection of Kazakh-Russian bilingualism in children's language in education (based on a sociolinguistic survey)

Reflection of Kazakh-Russian bilingualism in children's language in education (based on a sociolinguistic survey)

Peculiarities of Linguistic Situation of Multinational Guiana

The analysis of the sociolinguistic situation in Guiana, an overseas department and a region of France is presented in the article. The history of the settlement of this territory by speakers of different languages is considered. An overview of the demolinguistic situation in the region is presented, statistical data of the latest population censuses are given. A review and analysis of the results of anthropological, linguistic and sociolinguistic surveys conducted by French scientists in Guiana at the end of the 20th and the first decades of the 21st centuries is made. The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that the linguistic situation is considered simultaneously with the analysis of existing laws on languages, since only adopted laws can allow members of the linguistic community to assert and protect their rights. Particular attention is paid to the use of the Guianan Creole and French languages in various social and communicative areas: in the institutions of executive power, in the main area of the functioning of the language — the education system, in the areas of trade and the media. The relevance of the article is due to the special attention of the Russian and world community to the language situation and the solution of language problems in multi-ethnic states, as well as to the preservation of indigenous languages.

Қазақстандағы престижді жоспарлаудың мәселелері

Among the problems of sociolinguistics, the problem of language planning occupies a special place. Language planning refers to activities undertaken in a speech community to influence language function, structure, or language acquisition. Language planning is often regarded as a top-to-bottom activity that is government-controlled. In this article, the main focus of the authors was on prestige planning, which is the main category of language planning. Prestige planning proves that the scope of language can be expanded from the bottom-to-top with soft power. In this study, an overview of scientific research related to the issue of prestige planning was presented. It is argued that prestige planning is the basis of successful language forecasting. The importance of using soft power in the implementation of language policy and planning is noted, as well as examples of the rational use of soft power tools in the implementation of prestige planning in Kazakhstan. The efforts of language movement activists and significant changes in the language situation were distinguished. Based on the sociolinguistic survey, the role and importance of languages in Kazakhstan for the respondents was studied. Opinions of the survey participants on how to make the Kazakh language fashionable were revealed. This study shows that the foundation of the Kazakh language has really strengthened, its reputation has increased, and the desire to study and use it in everyday life has increased. In addition, the interest in English, which is the language of international communication in the field of business, science and technology, is also increasing

East Asia and English language speakers: a population estimation through existing random sampling surveys

ABSTRACT Many applied linguists have attempted to quantify the number of English-speaking populations, both globally and in specific countries. However, thus far, those in East Asia have not been estimated through a robust technique. This paucity of estimation can be partly attributed to the lack of censuses or large-scale sociolinguistic surveys; nonetheless, other secondary data can be used for this purpose. This study analyses two nationally representative surveys conducted in China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan – the East Asian Social Survey (conducted in 2008 and 2018) and AsiaBarometer (2003–2008) – and estimates their English-speaking population. The results indicate that English speakers (those who evaluated themselves as having a fair or high level of English proficiency) account for approximately 10% of the population in China and Japan and approximately 20% in South Korea and Taiwan. Furthermore, English proficiency varied according to generation and educational level in all four jurisdictions. Based on these findings, this article discusses cross-national variations of English-speaking populations in the four jurisdictions, the absolute number of speakers, its implications, and possible self-report biases and their assessment.

Principales rasgos gramaticales del español de Guatemala

Abstract This work offers an in-depth description of the main morphosyntactic (and lexical) features found in present Guatemalan 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 locutions, and it is illustrated with 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 pronouns— in present-day Guatemalan Spanish, some of which remain to be incorporated in the Academy grammar.

Bottom-Up Approach to Language Policy and Planning in Kazakhstan

National and world news is constantly accompanied by inter-group dramas which are permeated by the dynamics of language use and attitudes. Conflicts can arise between the state insisting on an official language and the family and community who may support the preservation or revitalisation of heritage languages. Kazakhstan is an example of how languages (official Kazakh, the language of communication Russian and international English) coexist peacefully. Language policy and planning depend on the ability and willingness of individual members of the speech community to adopt a language. Language planning is often seen as a top-down, government-controlled activity. This paper shows that language planning can also be carried out from below. Here, we analyze the main initiatives of grassroots movements in promoting the status of the Kazakh language and the emergence of new bottom-up approaches facilitated by the Internet and present sociolinguistic survey results regarding the roles, importance and prestige of languages for the people of Kazakhstan. The focus of the study reported in this article is to monitor the transformative character of bottom-up approaches to language-policy study in Kazakhstan.

The war and the attitude of Ukrainians to language

This article is devoted to outlining the main trends of changes in the language and national consciousness of Ukrainians in the period of Russian-Ukrainian war. The language situation in Ukraine has changed significantly since the start of Russian aggression in February 2022. The basis of our investigation are the results of the latest sociological surveys. In order to study these changes, the materials of the following polls were involved: the poll conducted by the sociological group “Rating” (March 2022), the all-Ukrainian public opinion poll “Omnibus” conducted by KMIS (May 2022), the survey conducted by Gradus Research (October 2022), the KMIS survey (December 2022). Presented in the paper also are the opinions of Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University students regarding language issues, which were collected in the process of student questionnaires in winter 2022—2023. The results of all studies confirm the fact of changing the language situation in Ukraine in the direction of increasing the amount of the Ukrainian language. Now the process of Ukrainization has become so visible. Ukrainians became more conscious in the aspect of their national identity and more switched to the state language of communication. We can make a conclusion that the sociological data prove the obvious transformation of the language situation of Ukraine and the expansion of the functions of the Ukrainian language. The war accelerates the processes of Ukrainization of the communicative space, and therefore in the future we can predict the continuation of changes in the language situation of the country in the direction of Ukrainian monolingualism. The prospect of our study is to investigate the language behaviour of Ukrainians in the post-war period. Keywords: state language, mother tongue, language of everyday communication, language situation, language consciousness, process of Ukrainianization, language identity, sociolinguistic survey

Situação linguística em Kiev no início do século XXI: material de uma pesquisa em massa no aplicativo móvel ”Kyiv Digital”

Abstract This article is devoted to the problem of analyzing the current language situation in Kyiv. The research has been carried out on the basis of the latest sociolinguistic survey in the \"Kyiv Digital\" application, which was conducted in January 2023. The total number of respondents is 67,212. The linguistic behavior of Kyiv residents has been analyzed to reveal their attitudes towards language related problems to characterize their views on the use of the Ukrainian and Russian languages today and in the future. The aim of the article is to highlight the results of the analysis of the language situation in the city of Kyiv using modern digital technologies. To achieve the goal, the following research methods have been used: 1) theoretical: systematic analysis of linguistic and sociological literature; historical-genetic method; methods of mathematical statistics; 2) empirical: surveys in the \"Kyiv digital\" application; observation. It has been found out that the majority of residents of the city of Kyiv have no understanding of the essence of language conflicts, and are not familiar with the legislative consolidation of those provisions related to the state language. The position of the Ukrainian language has already begun to improve after the Revolution of Dignity. Since the full-scale invasion of the aggressor, many people have been switching from Russian to Ukrainian and developing the Ukrainian cultural environment. Over the last decade, a steady increase has been observed in the number of Kyivans who consider Ukrainian their native language: from 57% in 2012 to 86% of the total number of respondents in 2022. The introduction of digital technologies to assess the linguistic situation allows to quickly analyze a significant amount of statistical data and draw conclusions about the real state of functioning of languages in society. We have singled out the following main advantages of using modern digital technologies for the analysis and assessment of the language situation: 1) the reduction of time for data collection and processing; 2) the possibility of involving a large number of participants without personal contact; 3) the potential possible to trace the dynamics of the development of the issue. However, this methodology also has its disadvantages: 1) respondents' depersonalization; 2) the inaccuracy of answers occurs when there is no contact between the interviewee and the interviewer. It has been proven that they do not significantly affect the results of the survey, which allows to recognize this technique as effective and efficient.

Semantic Features of the Functioning of Dominant Verbalizers of the Ethical Concept BOON in the Mass Media

The paper is devoted to the features of the functioning of the dominant verbalizers of ethical concepts in mass media, considered on the example of the words grace and gratitude . The purpose of the study is to trace the features of the semantic changes of words in modern use in comparison with their main ethical meaning. The article analyzes the data of the explanatory dictionaries of the Church Slavonic and Russian languages, establishes ethically loaded semes that unite verbalizers and testify to their exceptional value in the Russian mentality. The relevance of the study is determined by the analysis of the semantics of about 2000 uses of the words grace and gratitude in mass media, which made it possible to establish a common stylistic orientation - ironic and sarcastic - and the emasculation of the ethical load while maintaining the main denotative meaning. It is proved that the predominance of the material in the understanding of grace developed in the 20th century and is due to the denial of the religious picture of the world, which, however, does not exclude the preservation of ethical semantics in the internal field of ethical concept verbalizers. It was revealed that the ironic, sometimes anti-ethical inclusion of words in texts about topical issues levels their ethical significance and contributes to the spread of distorted semantics, influencing the value scale of native speakers, which is confirmed by a sociolinguistic survey.

«Душа же у нас гуляет во сне везде, и я бываю и дома»: о языке сновидений представителей чувашской и марийской диаспор Московского региона

The article deals with one of the most interesting and fairly unstudied functions of the ethnic language in the conditions of the internal diaspora – the language of dreams. Based on the data of her own field research, the author’s goal is to identify the topics and situations in which the representatives fix their dreams in their ethnic languages. In the present article the author uses the data obtained as a result of the sociolinguistic surveys conducted in two diasporas of the Moscow region: the Chuvash diaspora (the sample was 100 people) in 2014–2017, and in the Mari diaspora (the sample included 106 people) in 2019–2021. Both surveys were devoted to identifying and describing the functioning of the ethnic language, its interaction with the Russian language in the context of the multilingual and multicultural space of the Moscow region. The results, obtained in the surveys, reveal that 27% of respondents in the Chuvash sample and 49% in the Mari in the first generation have dreams in their respective ethnic languages. These dreams are closely correlated, according to the respondents, fluent speakers, with the subject of dreams and are associated with relatives and friends in their small homeland (often with deceased ancestors), with a certain place or event in the small homeland. In addition, dreams in «their» language also come in emotionally loaded situations, for example, in a state of stress. Respondents with a poor command of an ethnic language (natives of urban settings, as well as the majority of second-generation representatives in the sample) practically do not record dreams in their ethnic language. The author concludes that this particular function is deeply connected with some other functions, such as a communicative or a sacred one in addition, it reflects certain linguistic ideologies that are discretely dominant in these linguistic communities.

Varieties of Pennsylvania Dutch

Some language communities continue identifying with their heritage language even after a shift to the majority language has occurred. In this paper I use a comparative approach to investigate the extent to which this postvernacular phase can be found among the broad spectrum of Pennsylvania Dutch-affiliated groups in North America. The results of a sociolinguistic survey presented here reveal that vastly different relationships to and experiences with the language and its affiliated cultures exist under the Pennsylvania Dutch umbrella. The postvernacular framework effectively describes the status of the language among the non-sectarians. However, with some exceptions, it cannot account for the extremely diverse scenarios existing among the sectarians (i.e., separatists). A better understanding of each of the relevant linguistic and cultural aspects at play here will have cross-linguistic implications for how languages are bound to human identities.

Students’ Linguistic Attitude Towards Language Mistakes/Errors in Learning and Using a Foreign Language

Summary As the intensity of communication increases, the number of language mistakes/errors increases. Nowadays, the acquisition and use of a foreign language often takes place in parallel, and language mistakes/errors are a natural part of this process but this does not mean that they must be tolerated. The study is based on the results of a sociolinguistic survey obtained in 2018 and 2019. 253 students of four Universities and specialties, as well as different study levels from Liepāja, Ventspils and Rīga participated in the survey anonymously. Most of the respondents indicated that Latvian was their mother tongue; for a small number of participants, it was a second language or a foreign language. The surveyed students also differed in the type and number of foreign languages acquired. The present paper is the second part of a wider study (see the results of the first stage of the research by Laiveniece and Lauze, 2020). The aim of this paper is to characterize students’ linguistic attitude towards language errors in learning and using a foreign language: how to evaluate errors, whether errors are generally permissible, what affects them, and how to eliminate them. In the course of the research, an assumption emerged: the more foreign languages are learned, the more tolerant the linguistic attitude is towards mistakes/errors that are made when speaking a foreign language. However, the analysis of the questionnaire findings did not confirm this. Most of the respondents attributed errors to the language learning process. Whether or not errors were made when speaking a foreign language was determined by the situation and purpose of the communication, as well as the level of language acquisition.