The influence of socio-economic status, age, gender, and level of literacy on language attitudes

This study investigated the relationship between socio-economic status, age, gender, and literacy level and Haitian Gonâviens‘ attitudes towards Haitian Creole or Kreyòl and French. Most studies that investigated language attitudes of Creolophones have found that they have negative attitudes towards Kreyòl. Nevertheless, previous studies often included participants who are affiliated with education such as students, teachers, and language policy makers, or those from higher social classes. The current study, however, utilized a language attitudes questionnaire to collect data from 78 adult informants from diverse backgrounds. These participants included 21 highly literate, 51 partially literate and 6 illiterate Haitians. Findings revealed that participants of higher socio-economic status have more positive attitudes towards French than those from lower socio-economic status. Results also showed that there is a tendency for age, gender, and literacy level to affect language attitudes. For instance, positive attitudes towards Kreyòl were found to be more prevalent among older participants than younger respondents. Similarly, male participants had more negative attitudes towards French than female informants. Moreover, respondents of lower literacy levels had more negative attitudes towards French than those who were highly literate.

ТЕОРЕТИЧНІ ПІДХОДИ ДО ВИВЧЕННЯ СТАВЛЕННЯ ДО МОВИ

This article focuses on the analysis of the scientific literature on investigating language attitude, theoretical approaches to the language attitude analyzed, the core paradigms of investigation connected to studying and distinguishing of language attitude presented, as well as the importance of data gathered regarding language attitudes and the specific nature of the language attitude studies in Ukraine that are analyzed. Studying language attitudes is popular, as the language which is investigated has numerous sociocultural functions, and knowledge of language attitudes helps to achieve success in language policy planning. Moreover, influences on linguistic personality and language attitudes allow evaluation not only of the loyalty to a particular language, but also the functional value of each of these. Language attitude is an instrument which allows successful language policy to be constructed, and also informs about the language identification of speaker, as well as about language status and prestige.

‘Broken English’, ‘dialect’ or ‘Bahamianese’?

The study investigates language attitudes in The Bahamas, addressing the current status of the local creole in society as well as attitudinal indicators of endonormative reorientation and stabilization. At the heart of the study is a verbal guise test which investigates covert language attitudes among educated Bahamians, mostly current and former university students; this was supplemented by a selection of acceptance rating scales and other direct question formats. The research instrument was specifically designed to look into the complex relationships between Bahamian Creole and local as well as non-local accents of standard English and to test associated solidarity and status effects in informal settings. The results show that the situation in The Bahamas mirrors what is found for other creole-speaking Caribbean countries in that the local vernacular continues to be ‘the language of solidarity, national identity, emotion and humour, and Standard the language of education, religion, and officialdom’ (Youssef 2004: 44). Notably, the study also finds that standard Bahamian English outranks the other metropolitan standards with regard to status traits, suggesting an increase in endonormativity.

The Status of English in Morocco: Lessons from Spontaneous Debates in Social Media

Morocco, a multilingual country with historical and geo-political legacies, has opened a hot debate on languages recently. Within this debate, this article investigates spontaneous comments in social media on languages in Morocco, especially adopting English as a first foreign language. It aims to bring this topic to the surface and thus discuss it in the light of research on language attitudes and language awareness. To do so, it analyses the reactions to texts about the declarations by the Minister of Higher Education shared in social networks and sites. The data consisting of 2,018 comments is classified according to 12 frequent patterns whose frequencies are calculated. The findings show that most of Moroccans have positive attitudes towards English while some show opposing reactions towards French. These participants hold ambivalent opinions about the rest of languages used in Morocco; however, they tend to insist on Morocco having a clear language policy which, seemingly, prioritises the mother tongues, Arabic and Amazigh. The discussions show that some investigated reactions are mitigated as they may be illusionary.

Status Quo and Comparative Study of Fujianese College Students’ Language Abilities, Language Attitudes and Language Use

The study undertakes a diachronic comparative analysis of college students’ Mandarin, dialect, English use status, language aptitude, and language attitudes between 2015 and 2020 using data from a questionnaire of Fujian Province college students. The findings show that: (1) Mandarin’s function and status are increasing, resulting in a situation in which Mandarin is the dominant language and multiple language codes, such as dialects and English, coexist; (2) Mandarin use is increasing, while dialect use is decreasing; (3) Mandarin and English listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills are improving, while dialect listening and speaking skills are deteriorating; (4) Although Fujianese college students have a higher overall opinion of Mandarin, dialects, and English, their views toward Mandarin, dialects, and other languages are deteriorating. Based on this, the paper proposes curriculum ideology and politics in foreign language classes, as well as a variety of strategies to preserve Fujian’s strong dialects and scientifically protect weak dialects and endangered minority languages.

GENDER DIFFERENCE IN LANGUAGE USE AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDES IN ONLINE FACEBOOK POSTS OF UKRAINIAN MIGRANTS IN GERMANY

This article studies the gender difference in language use and language attitudes of Ukrainian communities in Germany in online social media. Since 2014, the conflict in the East of Ukraine has led to a remarkably intense flow of Ukrainian migrants to Western Europe giving rise to longstanding issues of identity formation, language use, and attitudes both within Ukraine and inside Ukrainian diaspora communities. This article will examine the Ukrainian diaspora in Germany on the subject of language ideologies, language use, and attitudes by analyzing its linguistic online activity. To do so, our analysis will draw on a range of interdisciplinary methodologies, including studies of linguistic identity positioning, gender in migration, imagined migrant communities, and studies of discursive constructions of nationhood, which explore language indexing in relation to national identity.

Размиват ли се границите между езиковите нагласи в града и селото?

Are the Boundaries Between Language Attitudes in Town and Village Deleted?The paper presents an analysis of data from a nationally representative survey of the language attitudes of Bulgarians regarding their opinions on the processes of language internationalization according to the respondent’s settlement type. The assumptions are that there will be opposition between language attitudes along the city-village axis. The analysis shows that language attitudes are not particularly influenced by the type of settlement: globalization, not urbanization, is the crucial process in the formation of language attitudes today. Czy zanikają granice między postawami językowymi w mieście i na wsi? W artykule przedstawiono analizę danych uzyskanych na podstawie reprezentatywnych w skali kraju badań postaw językowych Bułgarów według typu osiedlenia respondentów. Badania dotyczyły opinii respondentów na temat procesów internacjonalizacji współczesnych języków. Na wstępie założono, że na osi miasto-wieś wystąpi sprzeczność między postawami językowymi. Analiza pokazała, że typ osadnictwa nie oddziałuje w sposób szczególny na postawy językowe: dla kształtowania się owych postaw kluczowym procesem obecnie jest proces globalizacji, a nie urbanizacji.

Russian in the multilingual environment of three Asian countries

This article provides a comparative analysis of the sociolinguistic situation in three Asian countries, India, Japan, and South Korea, which are relatively less known as countries where the Russian language is used. The aim of the study is to assess the significance of the Russian language in these countries Russian-speaking diasporas, business sphere, and education, as well as to define the characteristics of its teaching in the cultural contexts under discussion. In all these domains processes of language commodification are intensifying. The countries chosen for analysis differ in the history of language contacts, political relations with Russia, language policy, language attitudes, and as a result, residents motivation for maintaining and learning the Russian language. We discuss similarities and differences in the development of Russian speech communities. We also reflect upon linguistic and cultural hybridity, and in particular, its effect on the evolution of multilingual identities on the basis of interviews, fieldnotes, internet resources, and published data. The results show that in Japan and South Korea, the number of immigrants, students, businesspeople and mixed families using Russian is growing, and Russian language schools are popular; in India, the established relationship of peace, friendship and cooperation through various treaties continues to have its effect on the popularity of the Russian language in various spheres of life. In all the three countries Russian serves as a lingua franca for immigrants from different post-Soviet countries, which increases its value for the diasporans. The study argues that realities of diasporic life contribute to the pluricentric trends in the development of Russian.

Maintenance of Russian as a heritage language in Germany: A longitudinal approach

The study discusses the perspectives of long-term maintenance of Russian as a heritage language in Germany. Based on data from a longitudinal study (2014-2018) we investigated changes in the sociolinguistic situation of 19 adolescent heritage speakers and in their proficiency in Russian. The aim was to investigate whether changes in the participants sociolinguistic situation are reflected in their knowledge of Russian. Data on the sociolinguistic situation were collected via an extensive questionnaire that the participants had to fill out once a year. Language proficiency was measured by experimental tasks targeting different linguistic domains. For the current paper, we used data from the longitudinal measurement of lexical and grammatical proficiency. The results revealed that the participants exposure to Russian input is decreasing in several domains over time, especially concerning media consumption and personal visits to the homeland. Russian is increasingly restricted to interactions with parents, and to educational settings (classes in Russian as a foreign or heritage language). Regarding language attitudes, our participants explicitly consider Russian important primarily for family interactions and cultural factors, but less with regard to career goals. Nevertheless, there was a positive trend in lexical and grammatical proficiency. We interpret these findings as a result of the prolonged exposure to heritage language instruction which leads to a stabilized proficiency in Russian. Given the institutional support and the size of the community, we hypothesize that the perspectives for long-term maintenance of Russian as a heritage language in Germany are better than for Russian heritage speaker communities in other countries.