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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 635

Part of Session 107: Minority and Majority Languages within State, Community and Family (Other abstracts in this session)

Family language management in a changed sociopolitical situation

Authors: Ramoniene, Meilute
Submitted by: Ramoniene, Meilute (Vilnius University, Lithuania)

Over the recent twenty years, since the fall of the Soviet Union and the restoration of Lithuanian independence,  fundamental changes in Lithuania’s sociopolitical situation have brought about major changes in its sociolinguistic situation. A radical departure from the Soviet-era asymmetric bilingualism model, which meant bilingualism of the titular ethnicity and monolingualism of the Russian-speakers, has occurred. The biggest changes have occurred in cities, which are inhabited by 70 per cent of the population.
The new language policy has influenced, in particular, language attitudes and behaviour of ethnic minorities, comprising about 16 per cent of Lithuania’s population. Poles and Russians, the largest ethnic groups in Lithuania, who knew little or no Lithuanian before the restoration of independence, have modified their language practices including language choice.  Former monolingual speakers of Russian (Russians, Poles and other ethnicities of Soviet-time Lithuania) have increasingly become bilingual or multilingual. The use of Lithuanian in the public sphere has become much more frequent. 
Moreover, significant changes have occurred not only in the use of language in the public sphere, but also in the private sphere. Particularly visible is the change in language policy, language management and language choice in non-Lithuanian and ethnically mixed families living in cities.  The repertoire of home languages in cities now includes Lithuanian as the state language, particularly for communication with the younger generation – children and grandchildren. A tendency has been observed in Polish families (which form the biggest ethnic minority group in Lithuania and which used Russian for both public and private comunication in Soviet times) to use Polish, which is their ethnic language, for personal communication. English is also entering the home space in cities, mainly through the use of the internet, TV and other comunication media.
The paper will discuss  the new tendencies of  family language policy and language management  in Lithuanian cities and towns. Based on the data of new quantitative and qualitative research done in  2011, the paper will consider  the issues of language choice in the family domain for communication with diffferent interlocutors as well as the interdependence  between language management and familly structure, the age of family members, their ethnic origin and other family characteristics.