The village helps those who help themselves: on the question of language practices and ideologies in the chuvash and mari diasporas in the Moscow region
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6119-2023-2-65-78
The article is based on the data obtained through sociolinguistic research in the Chuvash and Mari diasporas in the Moscow region. It examines the linguistic practices of representatives of ethnic groups living in the internal diaspora. These show a high level of linguistic loyalty and a desire to preserve their ethnic language as one of the main features of ethnic identity. Nevertheless, the respondents' linguistic loyalty level does not correlate with the level of language maintenance, as shown by the low level of intergenerational transmission of the ethnic language in the samples. Passing the language on the children is transferred from the diaspora representatives to the ethnic village. Special attention is paid in this paper to the analysis of the language ideologies underlying such practices and to the description of the mechanism of (non)transmission of the ethnic language characteristic of these communities living in urban environments. These are an ideology of legitimacy (authenticity), which confines the language to a specific area where traditional speakers live, and an ideology of anonymity, which is widespread in urban spaces and de facto presupposes the use of Russian as an unmarked linguistic and social norm, regardless of the identity of the speakers. Stereotypes, deeply rooted beliefs, attitudes towards the respective languages, and negative and traumatic experiences traced in the linguistic biographies of the respondents are crucial to ethnic language maintenance in the internal diaspora. The results of the survey provide a comprehensive picture of the language situation in Chuvash and Mari villages in diachrony and synchronicity and show that the ethnic village is currently unable to cope with the task of uninterrupted language transmission, as the village itself, which is considered the traditional compact place of residence of these ethnic groups, is affected by the language shift. The author concludes that there is an urgent need to revise existing language practices in the diaspora in order to develop new and more effective strategies for ethnic language transmission. This requires – in the case of the representatives of the internal diaspora – a conscious adaptation of their current language practices in the village, as well as a growing awareness of their own responsibility for the transmission of their ethnic language to the future generation.
Keywords: Mari language, Chuvash language, ethnic language, Moscow region, internal diaspora, language practices, language ideologies, language transmission, language management, language policy, language situation, language shift
References:
Alos-i-Font H. Issledovanie jazykovoj situacii v Chuvashskoj Respublike: sbornik statej [The Survey of Language Situation in the Chuvash Republic: a collection of papers]. Cheboksary, 2015.
VPN – Vserossiiskaya perepis' naseleniya 2010 goda [All-Russian 2010 Census]. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/free_doc/ new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Vol4/pub-04-07.pdf, 2010.
Kutsaeva M. V. Funkcionirovanie jetnicheskogo jazyka v chuvashskoj diaspore moskovskogo regiona [Functioning of ethnic language in Chuvash diaspora of Moscow region]. M.; SPb.: Nestor-Istoriya, 2020a.
Kutsaeva M. V. Marijcy Moskvy: jetnicheskaja identichnost' i jazykovaja lojal'nost' v uslovijah vnutrennej diaspory [Maris in Moscow: Diaspora ethnic identity and language loyalty] // Rodnoj jazyk. Lingvisticheskij zhurnal [Native Language. Linguistic Journal]. 2020b. No 2. P. 124–150.
Kutsaeva M. V. Rannee osvoenie jetnicheskogo jazyka v marijskoj diaspore moskovskogo region [Early language acquisition in Moscow region Mari diaspora] // Tomskij zhurnal lingvisticheskih i antropologicheskih issledovanij [Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology]. 2021a. No 3 (33). P. 49–58.
Kutsaeva M. V. Funkcii jetnicheskogo jazyka v marijskoj diaspore moskovskogo regiona [Functions of the ethnic language in the Mari diaspora of the Moscow region] // Tomskij zhurnal lingvisticheskih i antropologicheskih issledovanij [Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology]. 2021b. No 4 (34). P. 58–72.
Kutsaeva M. V. Yazykovye biografii predstavitelej marijskoj diaspory moskovskogo regiona (urozhentsev rajonov rasprostraneniya lugovogo marijskogo yazyka v Respublike Marij El) [Language biographies of the Maris of the Moscow region — the natives of the areas where the Meadow Mari language is spoken in the republic of Mari El] // Uralo-altaiskie issledovaniya [Ural-Altaic Studies]. 2022. No 1 (44). P. 116–153.
Marijtsy. Istoriko-etnograficheskie ocherki [Maris. Historical-ethnographic outlines]. Yoshkar-Ola, 2013.
Fishman J. A. Kto govorit na kakom jazyke, s kem i kogda? [Who speaks what language to whom and when?] / Sociolingvistika i sociologija jazyka. Hrestomatija [Sociolinguistics and sociology of language. A textbook, transl. from English]. SPb., 2012. P. 63–83.
Fomin E. V. Jazykovaja situacija v Chuvashii [Language situation in Chuvashia] // Jazyk i obshhestvo. Jenciklopedija [Language and Society. Encyclopedia]. Moscow, 2016. P. 824 – 833.
Austin P. K., Sallabank J. Introduction / P.K. Austin, J. Sallabank. Endangered Languages. Cambridge University Press, 2011. P. 1–24.
Bourdieu P. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991.
Dauenhauer N. M., Dauenhauer R. Technical, emotional, and ideological issues in reversing language shift: Examples from southeast Alaska / L. A. Grenoble & L. J. Whaley (eds), Endangered languages: Current Issues and Future Prospects. Cambridge University Press, 1998. P. 57–98.
Dołowy-Rybińska N., Hornsby M. Attitudes and Ideologies in Language Revitalisation / J. Olko, J. Sallabank J. (eds) Revitalizing Endangered Languages. A Practical Guide. Cambridge University Press, 2021. P. 104–116.
Fishman J. A. Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages. Multilingual Matters: 76. Clevedon. 1991.
Fishman J. A. Can Threatened Languages Be Saved? Reversing Language Shift Revisited: A 21st Century Perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2001.
Grenoble L. A. Language ecology and endangerment / P. K. Austin, J. Sallabank (eds) The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages. Cambridge University Press, 2011. P. 27–44.
Grenoble L.A., Whaley L. J. Saving Languages. An Introduction to Language Revitalization. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Sallabank J. Attitudes to Endangered Languages: Identities and Policies. Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Smith-Christmas C. Family Language Policy: Maintaining an Endangered Language in the Home. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Smith-Christmas C. et al. (eds) New Speakers of Minority Languages. Linguistic Ideologies and Practices. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Smolicz J. J. Minority Languages as Core Values of Ethnic Cultures: A Study of Maintenance and Erosion of Polish, Welsh, and Chinese Languages in Australia / W. Fase, K. Jaspaert, S. Kroon (eds) Maintenance and Loss of Minority Languages. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins publishing company, 1992. P. 277–305.
Spolsky B. Language Policy. Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Spolsky B. Language Management. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Spolsky B. Rethinking Language Policy. Edinburgh University Press Ltd, 2021.
Wright S. Language Policy and Language Planning. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
( 200.62 kB ) 
( 173.76 kB )
Issue: 2, 2023
Series of issue: Issue 2
Rubric: LINGUISTICS
Pages: 65 — 78
Downloads: 350