EARLY ETHNIC LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN MOSCOW REGION MARI DIASPORA
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6119-2021-3-49-58
The article presents the results of a sociolinguistic survey conducted by the author in the Mari diaspora of the Moscow region aimed at identifying and describing the functioning of the ethnic language. One of the aspects of the study is devoted to the issue of intergenerational transmission of the ethnic language in the conditions of diasporic residence. The first-generation respondents in the sample generally demonstrate a high level of language loyalty and are confident that they will not lose their ethnic language, their concerns are more likely to deal with to the second-generation representatives who grew up in the Moscow region. Among the main factors contributing to the early acquisition of an ethnic language in the second generation, the following ones were mentioned: immersion in the language environment in the Mari village in the summer; intra-family everyday communication in an ethnic language; children’s participation in cultural events organized in Moscow by the Mari community, as well as on the initiative of individual representatives or groups of the diaspora. However, when directly implemented, these models reveal several significant drawbacks in practice: further russification of the Mari rural areas, which leads to a child’s poor proficiency in Mari; assigning the child the role of a passive listener in the conversations of older family members; lack of cultural forms that meet the adolescents’ demands. Negative attitudes, stigmatizing ideologies as well as language practices inherited by respondents in relation to the Mari language in their small homeland all play a significant role in the weak transmission of the ethnic language to children. The survey revealed some positive changes, mainly among young respondents, due to their increased language awareness and changes in language strategies and ideologies. The Mari language is one of the main features of ethnic identity in the sample: the decay of the ethnic language in the second generation of the diaspora leads to the loss of some other ethnic markers and, as a result, to the blurring of the boundaries of the ethnic group.
Keywords: Mari language, ethnic language, internal diaspora, Moscow region, intergenerational language transmission, attitudes, ideologies, language practices
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Issue: 3, 2021
Series of issue: Issue 3
Rubric: LINGUISTICS
Pages: 49 — 58
Downloads: 517