STANDARD LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON LITHUANIAN MIGRANTS. SAMOGITIANS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS THEIR LANGUAGE VARIETY

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/sm-2017-0011

The study tries to bridge the gap between research on how the Lithuanianlanguage and its varieties are spoken and maintained by migrants and on how the standardlanguage ideology affects the speakers of regional varieties in Lithuania. The paperinvestigates Lithuanian Samogitian migrants’ attitudes towards their regional variety, themain factors that might influence their beliefs and whether the standard language ideologyis one of these factors. The in-depth analysis of 10 audio-recorded and coded interviewresponses has shown that in migration, similarly as in Lithuania, people’s attitudes towardsSamogitian and the usage of it are governed by the three main factors, namely education,Soviet language policy and the linguistic pressure from society. Even though migrants donot feel intense pressure to speak the “right” language and feel much freer to use thevariety of their choice when talking to other migrants, they still believe that it is commonsense to use the standard in official gatherings, for public speeches or for official events.