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Our paper discusses family language policies among multilingual families in Latvia with Russian as home language. The presentation is based on three case studies, i.e. interviews conducted with Russophones who have chosen to send their children to Latvian-medium pre-schools and schools. The main aim is to understand practices and regards among such families “from below,” i.e. which family-internal and family-external factors influenced the choice of Latvian-medium education and what impact this choice has on linguistic practices.
The paper shows that there have been critical events which both encouraged and discouraged the choice of Latvian-medium education. The wish to integrate into mainstream society has been met by obstacles both from ethnic Russians and Latvians. Yet, the three families consider their choices to be the right ones for the future development of their children in a multiethnic Latvia in which Latvian serves as the unifying language of society.
Aims and objectives:
Language debates in Latvia often focus on the role of Latvian as official and main societal language. Yet, Latvian society is highly multilingual, and families with home languages other than Latvian have to choose between different educational trajectories for their children. In this context, this paper discusses the results of two studies which addressed the question of why families with Russian as a home language choose (pre)schools with languages other than Russian as medium of instruction (MOI). The first study analyses family narratives which provide insight into attitudes and practices which lead to the decision to send children to Latvian-MOI institutions. The second study investigates language attitudes and practices by families in the international community of Riga German School.
Methodology:
The paper discusses data gathered during two studies: for the first, semi-structed interviews were conducted with Russian-speaking families who choose Latvian-medium schools for their children. For the second study, a survey was carried out in the community of an international school in Riga, sided by ethnographic observations and interviews with teachers and the school leadership.
Data and analysis:
Interviews and ethnographic observations were subjected to a discourse analysis with a focus on critical events and structures of life trajectory narratives. Survey data were processed following simple statistical analysis and qualitative content analysis.
Findings/conclusions:
Our data reveal that families highly embrace multilingualism and see the development of individual plurilingualism as important for integration into Latvian society as well as for educational and professional opportunities in the multilingual societies of Latvia and Europe. At the same time, multilingualism and multiculturalism, including Russian, are seen as a value in itself. In addition, our studies reflect the bidirectionality of family language policies in interplay with practices in educational institutions: family decisions influence children’s language acquisition at school, but the school also has an impact on the families’ language practices at home. In sum, we argue that educational policies should therefore pay justice to the wishes of families in Latvia to incorporate different language aspects into individual educational trajectories.
Originality:
Language policy is a frequent topic of investigation in the Baltic states. However, there has been a lack in research on family language policy and school choices. In this vein, our paper adds to the understanding of educational choices and language policy processes among Russian-speaking families and the international community in Latvia.
2008. godā tyka veikts pietejums, kura golvonais mierkis beja raksturuot niulenejū latgalīšu volūdys lūmu izgleiteibys sistemā. Itys roksts prezeņtej byutiskuokūs pietejuma rezultatus. Pietejuma īrūsme sajimta nu „Mercator Education Centre“ (Merkatora izgleiteibys centra), kas dorbojās Nīderlaņdē Ļuvortā (frīzu volūdā — Ljouwert), Frīzejis proviņcis golvyspiļsātā. Piļneigs pietejuma izvārsums ar Merkatora izgleiteibys centra atbolstu publicāts izdavumu serejā „Regional Dossier Series“ (Regionalūs dosje sereja) angļu volūdā. Itys roksts golvonom kuortom dūmuots taidam adresatam, kas mozuok ir saisteits ar Eiropys volūdu izpietis institucejom i kam roksti angļu volūdā var saguoduot izpratnis voi atrasšonys gryuteibys. Partū pietejuma suokumā teik dūts seikuoks metožu i mierķu raksturuojums, paskaidrojūt pietejuma strukturu i rezultatu apkūpuojuma veidu, kai ari dūts puorskots par latgalīšu volūdys lūmu myusdīnu izgleiteibys sistemā. Sacynuojumūs ir īzeimātys nuokūtnis perspektivis i prīšklykumi dabuotūs rezultatu izmontuojumam.
Raksta mērķis ir izvērtēt lingvistiskās ainavas laukā paveikto, apkopojot piecu gadu pieredzi un ieskicējot nākotnes perspektīvas turpmākajos pētījumos un studiju procesa satura plānojumā. Rakstā pamatā ir izmantota deskriptīvā pētniecības metode un kontentanalīze. Būtiskākie secinājumi: Lingvistiskās ainavas izpēte dažādās teritoriālajās vienībās Baltijas valstīs ir notikusi kopš 2008. gada, iesaistot arī studentus un vidusskolēnus. Lingvistiskās ainavas izpētes un metodoloģijas pilnveides rezultātā Rēzeknes Augstskolā (turpmāk – RA) ir izveidota kvantitatīvo un kvalitatīvo datu bāze, izstrādāti daudzveidīgi individuālie un kolektīvie pētījumi.Turpmāk ir plānots lielāku uzmanību veltīt Latgales skolu ainavai un citu iestāžu mikrovides izpētei, Latgales pilsētu datu salīdzinājumam ar citu Eiropas valstu reģionu lingvistisko ainavu, korelējot kvantitatīvos datus ar diskursa analīzes daudzveidīgo pieeju iespējām.
This article looks at Latgalian from a perspective of a classification of languages. It starts by discussing relevant terms relating to sociolinguistic language types. It argues that Latgalian and its speakers show considerable similarities with many languages in Europe which are considered to be regional languages – hence, also Latgalian should be classified as such. In a second part, the article uses sociolinguistic data to indicate that the perceptions of speakers confirm this classification. Therefore, Latgalian should also officially be treated with the respect that other regional languages in Europe enjoy.
This chapter will present results of a linguistic landscape (LL) project in the regional centre of Rēzekne in the region of Latgale in Eastern Latvia. Latvia was de facto a part of the Soviet Union until 1991, and this has given it a highly multilingual society. In the essentially post-colonial situation since 1991, strict language policies have been in place, which aim to reverse the language shift from Russian, the dominant language of Soviet times, back to Latvian. Thus, the main interests of the research were how the complex pattern of multilingualism in Latvia is reflected in the LL; how people relate to current language legislation; and what motivations, attitudes and emotions inform their behaviour.
Lingvistiskās ainavas metode – netradicionāls ceļš multilingvisma jautājumu izpētē un mācīšanā
(2008)
Šī raksta mērķis ir iepazīstināt ar lingvistiskās ainavas metodi un izskaidrot tās priekšrocības ne tikai valodnieku pētījumos, bet arī tās ieviešanā mācību procesā skolās un augstskolās. Pēc šī nelielā ievada vēlamies jums parādīt ne tikai metodes ieviešanas gaitu, bet arī pašreizējo attīstības stadiju. Mēs iepazīstināsim arī ar 2008. gada sākumā izstrādāto projektu ,,Latvijas lingvistiskā ainava Baltijas valstu kontekstā”, kuru arī šobrīd realizējam Rēzeknes Augstskolā (maģistra studiju programmas ,,Filoloģija” studenti un divi docētāji). Tāpat tiks dots neliels ieskats par projektā gūtajiem rezultātiem un problēmām, ar kurām saskārāmies pētījuma laikā, kā arī iepazīstināsim ar jauniegūto pieredzi.
Mehrsprachigkeitsdiskurse im Bildungskontext in Lettland zwischen Populismus und Weltoffenheit
(2019)
Unser Aufsatz diskutiert aktuelle Debatten zu Sprachen und Mehrsprachigkeit im Bildungssystem in Lettland. Theoretischer Hintergrund sind Debatten zur Mehrsprachigkeit, zu Spracheinstellungen und zur heteroglossischen Ideologie. Nach einer kurzen historischen Einführung in Fragen des sprachlichen Ökosystems Lettlands stellen wir Beispiele aus der aktuellen Reform der Schulcurricula vor, die Mehrsprachigkeitsansätze aufgreifen. Diese Reformversuche werden allerdings durch weit verbreitete Diskurse in der lettischen Gesellschaft abgelehnt. Anhand von Reaktionen von Bildungspolitikern und in journalistischen Texten zeigen wir, wie einflussreich traditionelle Vorstellungen vom Sprachlernen nach wie vor sind und wie eine Modernisierung des Lettischunterrichts mit Fragen von nationaler Identität verbunden wird, in denen bisweilen sogar offen xenophobisch argumentiert wird. Gleichzeitig wird deutlich, wie im Diskurs im Interesse der „Rettung der lettischen Sprache“ mit Mythen und Halbwahrheiten operiert wird. Der dritte Teil des Aufsatzes stellt in diesem Kontext zwei Studien unter Lehrern in Lettland vor, in denen explizit nach Einstellungen und Praktiken zu Code-Switching, Translanguaging und ähnlichen Phänomenen gefragt wurde. In den Antworten zeigt sich die Spaltung der Gesellschaft; jedoch zeigen die Ergebnisse auch, dass Perspektiven für einen modernen und mehrsprachigen Sprachunterricht in Lettland durchaus vorhanden sind.
This chapter investigates differences in language regards in Latvia and Estonia. Based on the results of a survey that had about 1000 respondents in each country, it analyses general views on languages and language-learning motivation, as well as specific regards of Estonian, Latvian, Russian, English, German and other languages. The results show that languages and language learning are generally important for the respondents; language-learning motivation is overwhelmingly instrumental. Besides the obvious value of the titular languages of each country, English and Russian are to differing degrees considered of importance for professional and leisure purposes, ahead of German, Finnish (in Estonia) and French, whereas other languages are of little relevance. In more emotionally related categories, differences are more salient. L1-speakers of Russian differ in their views from L1-speakers of Estonian and Latvian, indicating that the linguistic acculturation of society in Estonia tends to be more monodirectional towards Estonian, whereas in Latvia there are more bidirectional tendencies as both Latvian and Russian L1-speakers regard each other’s languages as at least moderately relevant.
This article discusses the situation of the Latgalian language in Latvia today. It first provides an overview of languages in Latvia, followed by a historical and contemporary sketch of the societal position of Latgalian and by an account of current Latgalian language activism. On this basis, the article then applies schemes of language functions and of evaluations of the societal position of minority languages to Latgalian. Given the range of functions that Latgalian fulfils today and the wishes and attempts by activists to expand these functions, the article argues that it is surprising that so little attention is given to Latgalian in mainstream Latvian and international sociolinguistic publications. In this light, the fate of the language is difficult to prognose, but a lot depends on whether the Latvian state will clarify its own unclear perception of policies towards Latgalian and on how much attention it will receive in the future.