Visagino sociolingvistinė specifika ir perspektyvos

Collection:
Mokslo publikacijos / Scientific publications
Document Type:
Knygos dalis / Part of the book
Language:
Lietuvių kalba / Lithuanian
Title:
Visagino sociolingvistinė specifika ir perspektyvos
Alternative Title:
Sociolinguistic specificity and potential of Visaginas
In the Book:
Summary / Abstract:

LTŠiame skyriuje mėginsime atskleisti Visagino ypatumus per sociolingvistinių duomenų prizmę. Bus aptariami šie klausimai: • gyventojų skaičiaus kaita nuo įkūrimo metų iki dabar, jų tautinė sudėtis; • miesto kalbinis gyvenimas – kurias kalbas visaginiečiai renkasi privačioje erdvėje, kaip kalbama už šeimos ar namų ribų: parduotuvėse, medicinos įstaigose, darbe ir t. t.; kaip visaginiečiai vertina savo kalbinius gebėjimus – gimtosios kalbos mokėjimo lygį, valstybinės kalbos ir užsienio kalbų kompetenciją; kokias mokyklas pagal dėstymo kalbą visaginiečiai pasirenka ar pasirinktų savo vaikams; kokių tendencijų ir pokyčių požymius galima įžvelgti Visagino kalbiniame gyvenime. Analizuosime Visagino miesto rusakalbių gyventojų pasakojimus, užrašytus kokybinės apklausos metu. Anot Austrijos kalbininko Heinricho Pfandlo, daug metų tyrinėjusio rusakalbių emigrantų tapatybę ir kalbinį elgesį, kai kalbama apie migrantų bendruomenes, svarbu susitelkti ne tiek ties masiniais reiškiniais, kiek ties „kiekviena kultūrine kalbine asmenybe: kokia yra emigruojančio kultūrinė kalbinė situacija, kokia tampa jo kalba, koks jo kultūrinis elgesys, kokios jo nuostatos naujos kultūrinės kalbinės tikrovės atžvilgiu, kodėl vieni praranda gimtąją kalbą, o kiti neįsisavina kalbos šalies, į kurią atvyko? Kokios objektyvios ir subjektyvios aplinkybės nulemia šį apsisprendimą?“ (Pfandl 1994: 104). Taigi, be Lietuvos statistikos departamento duomenų bei projekto „Sociolingvistinis Lietuvos žemėlapis: miestai ir miesteliai“ kiekybinių klausimynų atsakymų, naudosiu visaginiečių kokybinių apklausų (interviu) medžiagą. Iš viso šiame skyriuje išanalizuoti ir apibendrinti 60 kiekybinių2 ir 36 kokybinių interviu duomenys. [Iš straipsnio, p. 185-186]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Daugiakalbystė; Kalbos miestuose; Tarmės miestuose; Sociolingvistika; Multilingualism; Languages in cities; Dialects in cities; Sociolinguistics.

ENOwing to its history of origin, Visaginas is a very unusual town of Lithuania: it appeared not through complex sociocultural processes but rather as an outcome of labour migration. The town continues to exist as a segregated island on the map of the country. This study, however, has uncovered certain signs of changes which might be further investigated in sociolinguistic research. The demographic and linguistic specificity of Visaginas is partly revealed here through the discussion of data provided by the Department of Statistics of Lithuania and historiographic information about the population and urban infrastructure of the town since its foundation. Moreover, quantitative and qualitative data from the project “A Sociolinguistic Map of Lithuania: Cities and Towns” has also been taken into account. Finally, the chapter summarises data of 60 quantitative and 36 qualitative surveys. According to data of the quantitative surveys, 73–75% of parents of the residents of Visaginas, and 55% of the residents were born outside Lithuania; 78% of the respondents do not consider themselves Lithuanian, and 55% admit that Russian identity is closest to them. Russian as a native language was indicated by 77% of the respondents. As to the proficiency of Lithuanian, 57% of the respondents declared having good knowledge, but 13% admitted not knowing the language at all, which is, in fact, markedly different from the other urban areas of Lithuania. All respondents stress the fact that Russian is the dominating language in the linguistic reality of the town: it is used in shopping centres, public services, and health care institutions. As a consequence, the respondents agree that the knowledge of Lithuanian is not very relevant in their daily life. Interestingly, many of them regret that they do not know Lithuanian well enough, but this poor knowledge is explained by the limited use of the state language in the town.Life in this ethnically specific community has an impact on the linguistic attitudes of the local residents. In the interviews, the respondents often indicate the lower value attributed to Lithuanian in comparison with English or Russian. While the importance of English in the contemporary world is stressed by almost all respondents, Lithuanian, even if valued as the state language, is not seen as the most useful or prestigious language. In contrast, Russian to the majority of the respondents is important both in their daily life and in the broader context. As regards the usefulness of languages for business, while respondents in all urban areas of Lithuania indicated the state language as most important, people in Visaginas rated Russian as the second most important language (64%) and English as the third (53%), which differs from the other places where English is rated higher than Russian. An interesting observation from Visaginas applies to the quality of Russian used in Lithuania: respondents from Visaginas often indicate that they use a better variety of Russian than does the Russian-speaking population elsewhere in Lithuania where Russian is often used incorrectly. Alongside the persisting linguistic dominance of Russian in Visaginas, it is also obvious that the passive knowledge of Lithuanian is increasing. Elderly respondents admit that they can understand Lithuanian and, if need be, they could carry conversations in that language in typical urban situations. Some respondents told that they sometimes needed to use Lithuanian at work, but they did not even dare to think that their limited knowledge of the language can be called knowledge at all. It has also been observed that younger respondents have a higher linguistic competence of Lithuanian than of their mother tongue, namely Russian.Life in a linguistically homogeneous environment indirectly explains the fact why fewer respondents in Visaginas (only about 3%) than in Vilnius and Klaipėda (8%) declare having two native languages. Moreover, differently from Vilnius and Klaipėda, Lithuanian in Visaginas has not become a second native language. Crucial changes of the last decades in the development of the whole country and Visaginas in particular have greatly influenced the lives and attitudes of people who have once immigrated to Lithuania. Today, quite many of them think that it would be better to emigrate from Visaginas and from Lithuania in general. These attitudes are also reflected in the official Lithuanian statistics: the natural increase rate of Visaginas is negative, and the population of the town is decreasing at the highest rate in the country. Nevertheless, quite many respondents admit that they are attracted to Lithuania, some of them were born here, while others came as labour immigrants. In-depth interviews reveal that they would like to settle permanently in Visaginas because they have never had any ethnic conflicts with neighbours, acquaintances or colleagues at work. Non-Russian respondents also mention friendly relationships in the local community and speak about general tolerance of the prevailing Russian language, which is seen as a special feature of communication established during several last decades. Thus, the people of Visaginas are not quite determined to become a Lithuanian urban community similar to urban communities elsewhere in the country. Many local people here find themselves in conflict with their individuality and signs of assimilation, and especially the world perception of their children. Fortunately, their personal stories are dotted with modest signs of liberation from life in a segregated and ethnically isolated community. [From the publication]

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Updated:
2022-01-27 20:29:34
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