Abstract
This article deals with the situation of the Belarusian language in Belarus in competition with the Russian language and Belarusian-Russian mixed speech, both of which are widely used by the young generation in the country. Based on a nationwide survey with 1,000 respondents carried out in 2013, we show how young Belarusians see their first linguistic socialisation and how they evaluate the different linguistic codes in various contexts. The article then describes how and to what extent the respondents’ self-reported competence in Belarusian varies with sociodemographic characteristics and (geo-)political preferences with regard to a “Western” or “Eastern orientation”. Finally, it discusses the question whether young Belarusians favour promoting Belarusian and whether a pro-Belarusian attitude correlates with political preferences. The article provides evidence for the peripheral status of Belarusian in Belarus, but it also shows that there is support for the maintenance and even promotion of Belarusian, which is only slightly affected by global political orientations.
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©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Language research and language community change: Italian Sign Language 1981–2013
- UK university students’ folk perceptions of spoken variation in English: the role of explicit and implicit attitudes
- Speaking or being Chinese: the case of South African-born Chinese
- Predictors of immigrants’ second-language proficiency: a Dutch study of immigrants with a low level of societal participation and second-language proficiency
- Second language development in a migrant context: Turkish community in the Netherlands
- The linguistic and political orientation of young Belarusian adults between East and West or Russian and Belarusian
- Studying sustainable bilingualism: comparing the choices of languages in Hungary’s six bilingual national minorities
- The language of power: a content analysis of presidential addresses in North America and the Former Soviet Union, 1993–2012
- Variation in Macau Cantonese: the case of initial and final segments
- Perceptions about being Japanese and Christian in Canada
- Language attrition, language contact and the concept of relic variety: the case of Barossa German
- Language competition: an economic theory of language learning and production
- Book Review
- Nancy C. Dorian: Small-language fates and prospects. Lessons of persistence and change from endangered languages
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Language research and language community change: Italian Sign Language 1981–2013
- UK university students’ folk perceptions of spoken variation in English: the role of explicit and implicit attitudes
- Speaking or being Chinese: the case of South African-born Chinese
- Predictors of immigrants’ second-language proficiency: a Dutch study of immigrants with a low level of societal participation and second-language proficiency
- Second language development in a migrant context: Turkish community in the Netherlands
- The linguistic and political orientation of young Belarusian adults between East and West or Russian and Belarusian
- Studying sustainable bilingualism: comparing the choices of languages in Hungary’s six bilingual national minorities
- The language of power: a content analysis of presidential addresses in North America and the Former Soviet Union, 1993–2012
- Variation in Macau Cantonese: the case of initial and final segments
- Perceptions about being Japanese and Christian in Canada
- Language attrition, language contact and the concept of relic variety: the case of Barossa German
- Language competition: an economic theory of language learning and production
- Book Review
- Nancy C. Dorian: Small-language fates and prospects. Lessons of persistence and change from endangered languages