Corpus analysis of Russian and English resources in Vilnius adolescents’ speech

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Angliški ištekliai; Paauglių kalba; Rusiški ištekliai; Sociolingvistika; Vilniaus kalba; Vilniaus paauglių kalbos tekstynas; Adolescents language; Adolescents' language; English resources; Russian resources; Sociolinguistics; Vilnius adolescents language corpus; Vilnius adolescents' language corpus; Vilnius speech.

ENThis paper presents a corpus analysis of Vilnius adolescents’ heteroglossic practices, namely the use of Russian and English resources. Vilnius (the capital of Lithuania) has been chosen as a fruitful niche for the present research as it is Lithuania’s most linguistically and culturally diverse city. The approach to adolescents’ linguistically diverse speech as a meaningful practice conceptually contrasts the viewpoint commonly voiced in society at large on the inadequate mixture, unnecessary insertion of Russian and English words. The present analysis is intended as a scientific argument for the existence of norms for using Russian and English resources among Vilnius adolescents. Namely, these norms will be investigated along the parameters of gender and ethnic marking of Vilnius neighbourhoods. The analysis draws on Vilnius Adolescents’ Language Corpus data, collected for the present research, documenting the speech of 10–16 year old Vilnius adolescents in ethnically marked (EthM), i.e. predominantly populated by ethnic Poles and/or Russians, and ethnically unmarked (EthUn), i.e. predominantly populated by ethnic Lithuanians, Vilnius neighbourhoods. All the schools have Lithuanian as the language of instruction. The research has shown that Vilnius adolescents’ linguistically diverse practices are far from a mere mixture of resources. Instead, adolescents have different norms for using Russian and English resources. Adolescents in EthM neighbourhoods appear to use more types as well as tokens of Russian resources, in comparison to adolescents from EthUn neighbourhoods, hence, availability correlates with usage. The lexico-functional categories of Russian resources among adolescents (EthM) are manifold, i.e. slang, swearing, code-switching and quotations. Russian resources in the language of adolescents from EthUn neighbourhoods are limited to slang and swearing.Boys (EthUn) use Russian resources twice more frequently than girls, hence, it is likely that Russian slang and swearwords serve as markers of toughness and masculinity. English resources are available to adolescents irrespective of the ethnic marking of the neighbourhood through computer-mediated communication, popular culture. Hence, their frequency and lexico-functional categories are similarly distributed in Vilnius adolescents’ linguistic practices. It appeared that English resources are often situation, topic specific, employed for mutual entertainment and fun. [From the publication]