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Copyright of Treaties & Documents / Razprave in Gradivo is the property of Institut za Narodnostna Vprasanja and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The text concentrates on issues concerning the beginnings, development and current situation of the Sorbian ethnicity and ethnic identity in the region of Lusatia (Germany) from 1800 to the present. The given phenomenon is observed throughout the course of the 19th century which: 1) accelerated the transformation of Sorbs into the modern era ethnic group, enabling them to undergo a relatively successful "national revival"; 2) the same period, however, saw the acceleration of the language and ethnic assimilation (Germanization). Furthermore, attention is paid to the development, specific features, quests, possibilities and limits in the fi eld of Sorbian ethnic consciousness in the 20th and 21st centuries; emphasis is laid on the present-day situation. Closer analyses and ensuing interpretations focus on social and psychological factors of the given problem range, as well as on political connotations. A dichotomous situation between the primordial and (post) modernist approaches to understanding ethnicity in Lusatia is also commented on in detail. Finally, the role of Sorbian elements as the common denominator of Lusatian regionalism is dealt with as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Treaties & Documents / Razprave in Gradivo is the property of Institut za Narodnostna Vprasanja and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The text presents the findings of a sociolinguistic survey conducted in questionnaire form among the pupils attending lessons in the Aromanian (Vlach) language at a primary school in Kruševo (Macedonia). The survey focused on: the rate of use of Aromanian in individual language domains; the proportion of Aromanian in the overall framework of speaking activities; the reception of Aromanian culture and active participation in this culture; subjective ethnic, linguistic and cultural attitudes and assessments. According to the current situation of the Aromanian language, the questionnaire detected decisive differences among individual respondents concerning the “native tongues of their parents”, gender, and other factors. Computing the (non)homogeneity of the answers (standard deviation) proved highly relevant as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic sociolinguistic questionnaire survey on some aspects of the present-day ethnolinguistic situation among the youth of the Kalmyk Republic (Russian Federation) confirmed a number of expected facts and hypotheses. In the main it is the considerable domination of Russian over the Kalmyk language. Specific is also the level of ethnic consciousness, at which the declaration of Kalmyk nationality prevails among the respondents of Kalmyk background; this fact, nevertheless, frequently ranges between the confines of ethnic and civil concepts of "nationality" and the link to the Kalmyk language competence is not strict and binding either. At the same time, the statistical processing of the survey, however, showed crucial differences between respondents depending on the type of study, sex and place of origin; the calculation of the (non)homogeneity of responses yielded highly informative fíndings. It was the students of the lower secondary school in Sin Mer village (one of the few places where Kalmyk is still the language of communication of all generations) which emerged as "the most Kalmyk" out of the investigation. Students of Kalmyk Studies at the Kalmyk University came second. Thus, despite much progress and success in the field of ethnic-linguistic revitalization, the level of Kalmyk identity and language problems of Kalmykia remain a multivalent and open issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text sums up the conclusions of the author's sociolinguistic investigations conducted (particularly in the form of questionnaires) in years 1996–2001 and published in the monograph Sprachverhalten und ethnische Identität. Sorbische Schüler an der Jahrtausendwende (Language Attitudes and Ethnic Identity. Sorbian Students at the Turn of the Millennium) in 2005. Investigations were carried out at many Sorbian schools in Upper Lusatia and were aimed at ethnic awareness of the students, their choice/use of Sorbian or German, attitude to both languages, and reception of culture among young Sorbs aged 11–19. The author is mainly focused on the Sorbian Grammar School in Bautzen (Budyšin in Sorbian). In order to make the generalisation of the acquired outcomes possible, analogical surveys were also conducted at lower secondary schools in the villages of Crostwitz/Chrós?icy, Ralbitz/Ralbicy, Panschwitz-Kuckau/Pan?icy-Kukow, Räckelwitz/Worklecy, Radibor/Radwor, and in the municipality of Bautzen/Budyšin. The findings presented, analyzed and interpreted in the paper can, to a great degree, be in general applied to the present-day young Sorbian population as a whole. Simultaneously, they yield data for possible comparisons with the situation of other minority ethnic groups in Europe (e.g. the Welsh, the Romansh, Breton…). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]