Browsing by Author "Matysek, Ida"

The linguistic landscape of the Podlasie region in Poland is characterized by the presence of multiple minority languages, particularly local dialects influenced by Belarusian and Ukrainian. Traditionally, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian languages have been spoken in the area. Currently, Polish is the majority language and Belarusian has the status of an official supporting language in 5 municipalities. As a result of extended language and culture contact multiple vernaculars (called here Podlachian Varieties) and a local identity has emerged. This sociolinguistic questionnaire-based study explores the relationship between minority language attitudes and identities found in multilingual young adults (aged 18 to 29) from Podlasie. This study adopts the poststructuralist understanding of identity as fluid, multidimensional, and socially constructed (Hall 1999, Norton 2013). As Anchimbe (2007) underlines language is an important marker of identity especially in heterogenous communities as individuals and groups need to establish their boundaries to safeguard what they perceive as their distinct characteristics. Attitudes towards a language may determine whether it will head towards extinction or preserve in the community. This study approaches the issue of minority language speakers’ attitudes using Communication Accommodation Theory, developed by Giles. In CAT individuals adjust their communication styles to either converge or diverge with others based on their social motivations, underlining either similarities or differences respectively. The analysed material was gathered through an online questionnaire in December 2020. The questionnaire consisted of 23 questions and received 391 responses, out of which 39 were discarded due to irrelevance. Two-thirds of the participants believed that Podlachian Varieties are disappearing due to passing of older generations, lack of intergenerational language transmission, and the young generation feeling ashamed of the language. Those reasons demonstrate belief in the low perceived status of the language varieties leading to a converging communication strategy towards the Polish majority, which in turn results in intergenerational language shift and identity accommodation. This confirms analysis of Barszczewska (2010), who observed integration process and language shifts in the population. Polish identity holds the dominant position among the group. Belarusian identity was seldom declared (5%). In respect of identity, divergence and assimilation tendencies can be observed. People with local identity strive to diverge from both Polish and Belarusian identities, with the stronger trend seen in diverging from Belarusian. The assimilation trend is seen in native speakers of Belarusian, as nearly half of them identified as Polish and one-third as local. In the light of this study, it is evident that the Varieties are vulnerable and if the situation does not change in the close future, their continued existence might be threatened. The occurring assimilation and language shift poses a great threat to the vitality of Podlachian Varieties and the rapidly progressing urbanization process will continue to foster the language shift towards Polish.