Attitudes towards Russian as an official language in Lithuania and Estonia Martin Ehala University of Tartu 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS Languages and people: dialogues and contacts September 2010 Vilnius University

Research problem Both Lithuania and Estonia have one official language: Lithuanian and Estonian Both countries have Russian speaking minorities (2009 data): –In Lithuania ca (6,5%) –In Estonia ca (29%) What are the attitudes about the possible official status of Russian in both countries? What influences these attitudes?

The study Project “Ethnolinguistic vitality and identity construction: Estonia in the Baltic background” Researchers: Martin Ehala, Anastassia Zabrodskaja Quantitative surveys of ethnolinguistic vitality: Estonia 2008 Lithuania 2009 Latvia 2010 N = Estonians 460 Russian N = Lithuanians 230 Russians 270 Poles N = Latvians 400 Russians 200 Latgalians

Sociolinguistic regions The samples of the surveys were composed so as to reflect the sociolinguistic diversity of regions

Attitudes Statement: Russian should be the second official language in Lithuania Statement: Russian should be the second official language in Estonia

Lithuania: sociodemographic factors Lithuanians’ attitudes: –No gender differentiation; –No age differentiation; –Higher education associates with higher level of disagreement with the statement about Russian as an official language. –Place of residency in Visaginas associates with higher level of agreement with this statement. Statement: Russian should be the second official language in Lithuania

Lithuania: sociodemographic factors Lithuanian Russians’ attitudes: –No gender differentiation; –Young people (15-24 y. o.) have significantly higher rate of disagreement. –Kaunas and Vilnius associated with higher levels of disagreement. –People living in Visaginas had significantly higher rate of agreement. –Those born in Russia had also higher rate of agreement. Statement: Russian should be the second official language in Lithuania

Estonia: sociodemographic factors Estonians’ attitudes: –No gender differences; –No age differences; –No education differences; –People living in East Estonia had significantly higher levels of agreement with Russian as official language than people from other regions. Statement: Russian should be the second official language in Estonia

Estonia: sociodemographic factors Estonian Russians’ attitudes: –No gender differences; –No age differences; –No education differences; –Russian citizenship associates with stronger agreement. –East Estonian respondents show stronger agreement. –Residents in rural areas show weaker agreement. Statement: Russian should be the second official language in Estonia

Language usage and attitudes For Russian speakers – the more Estonian used, the lower the agreement rate with the statement (r =.351, p <.001). For Estonian speakers – the more Russian used, the higher the agreement rate (r =.456, p <.001). Thus, the closer contact, the more understanding attitudes. Statement: Russian should be the second official language in Estonia

Language usage and attitudes For Russian speakers – the more Lithuanian used, the higher the disagreement rate with the statement (r=.278, p<.001). For Lithuanians – the more Russian used, the higher the agreement rate (r=.304 p<.001) Again, the closer contact, the more understanding attitudes. Statement: Russian should be the second official language in Lithuania

Conclusion In Lithuania, the lesser agreement rate amongst younger generation may lead to wide societal consensus for Lithuanian as the sole official language. In Estonia, there is no generational shift. Two possible scenarios for Estonia: –Segregation: Russian as a regional semi- official language in East Estonia. –Societal bilingualism: reduction of ethnic tensions and acceptance of Russian as the second official language.

Ačiū! Thank you! Aitäh! Спасибо!