Wahrnehmungsdialektologische Untersuchungen zum Russinischen in Zakarpattja am Beispiel der Region Chust

Abstract

In the current pilot study, we analyse the Rusyn minority language (or po-našomu 'our way of speaking', as its speakers usually call it) from the perspective of non-expert vernacular speakers of the Zakarpattia region in Western Ukraine. As an addition to traditional dialectological studies, the paper aims at investigating attitudes and folk beliefs towards the mother tongue. Using different methods from the area of perceptual dialectology, we compare the individual representations of speech areas in Zakarpattia. To explore what ordinary people believe about the geographical distribution of linguistic varieties, we make use of, among others, draw-a-map tasks. Additionally, we conducted interviews and applied methods such as correct or pleasant ratings in order to measure the speakers' regard on the previously identified regional varieties. The results show a mainly negative concept of language perception and of Rusyn self-identification within it. Gradual language shift towards Standard Ukrainian occurs, since Rusyn speakers are afraid of being stigmatised as uneducated and rurally conservative. Nonetheless, there is no clear division between language use in official and nonofficial domains, i.e., speakers continue to use po-našomu even in semi-official domains. Rusyn can, thus, be classified as still vital in Zakarpattia. One of the crucial variables for perception as well as production of and regard on the native variety is the educational background of the test persons.

A Robust Approach to Variation in Carpathian Rusyn: Resampling-Based Methods for Small Data Sets

“…Considering the fact, that Rusyn is acknowledged as minority language in Slovakia and Poland, the more heterogeneous use of the verb forms within these varieties, including a strong use of verb forms differing from the respective umbrella languages, might not be accidental. Whereas the codified standard of Rusyn is taught in schools in Rusyn villages in Slovakia as well as in the Institute of Rusyn Language in Culture at Prešov University 13 , the speakers of Rusyn are tending to be more confident about their language and identity [30].…”

Diversification in time and space and how it is perceived: Applying a folk linguistic listening task with Tver’ Karelians

“…So far, folk linguistics has mainly concerned the dialects or other varieties of majority languages and it has not often been applied to minority language settings. There are, however, studies that have approached language awareness and linguistic attitudes among the speakers of Kurdish (Eppler & Benedikt 2017), Basque (Lasagabaster 2018), the Rusyn language in Ukraine (Schimon & Rabus 2016), and languages spoken in Hong Kong (Albury & Diaz 2021); the focus has been on how non-linguists perceive the geographical areas where a minority language is spoken. In the context of the Galician language in Spain, researchers have studied linguistic identity and the right to speak the minority language in cases where the minority language is not the speaker's first language but has been acquired after migrating to Galicia (Bermingham 2018, O'Rourke & Ramallo 2018.…”

Mapping young Russians’ perceptions of regional variation in Russian

“…Studies using the draw-a-map task have been done in many different countries and on many different languages. Showers-Curtis' (2019) master's thesis studied Slovak dialect perceptions, while Schimon & Achim (2016) used the draw-a-map task in their pilot study of folk beliefs of the East Slavic language Rusyn, but to my knowledge this instrument has not before been used in Russia or in Russian.…”