DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2017.3.23680

Abstract: The subject of the research is the attitude of married couples living in the cities of the Mari El Republic towards the Mari language, the place of the Mari language in the communication and values system of an urban family. The problem set by the authors is viewed taking into account the ethnofactor opposition between a mononational Mari family when both spouces identify themselves as Mari and multicultural family when one of the spouces of Mari and the other is Russian. The rationale of the research is caused by the need to study the modern sociolinguistic situation in polyethnic Russian Federation constituents and to define the role of national (regional) dialects. The research is based on the sociolinguistic data obtained in 2012 by the sociological department of Vasiliev Mari Research Institute of Language, Literature and History as a result of the survey dedicated to the topic 'The Language Situation in the Mari El Republic'. The research methods include statistical analysis, systematisation, analysis and generalisation. The author has also used the sociological tools such as random non-repetition quote sample, standard inteview, etc. The scientific novelty of the research is caused, first of all, by the empirical material that is introduced to the academic community for the first tijme, and, secondly, by the problems raised by the authors (communicative and values role of the Mari language in the minds of a modern urban family) that is viewed from the point of view of regional ethnosocial and sociolinguistic studies. The authors focus on the following questions that allow to define the attitude of spouces in the aforesaid two types of married urban couples towards the Mari language: recognition/denial of Mari as a native language, competence in Mari, concerns about the future of the Mari language, attitude to the status of the Mari language and its functions in the society, and prospects for developing Mari as a state language. The authors of the article prove the fact that mononational and multinational families have very different attitudes to the Mari language. Multicultural families tend to deny the ethnic importance of Mari which creates opportunities for their further language assimilation.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2017.2.22739

Abstract: The subject of the research is the foreign speech communication of Mari youth. The purpose of the article is to define the place of the Russian and English languages in the verbal communication of contemporary young people aged 15 - 29 years old, residing in the Republic of Mari El and identifying themselves as Mari. The rationale of the research problem is caused by the need to analyze today's sociolinguistic situation in polyethnic constituents of the Russian Federation and the role of state and foreign languages in these constituents. The topic is also important as part of studies devoted to the ethnocultural integration in a society. The empirical basis for the research is the sociolinguistic data obtained in 2012 by the Sociology Department of Mari Research Institute of Language, Literature and History named after V. Vasiliev in the process of the population survey devoted to the topic 'Linguistic Situation in the Republic of Mari El'. The research methods used by the authors include: statistical method, systematisation, analysis and generalisation. The authors have also used sociological tools such as random non-repeated quota sample, formal structured interview, etc. Sociolinguistic data used by the authros in their research are introduced in the academic literature for the first time and analyzed depending on respondents' places of residence (village/city) and educational background (secondary education/higher education or incomplete higher education). The research is focused on two questions that clarify the nature of the foreign speech communication of Mari youth. The first question is related to using non-ethnic (foreign) language in a situation of everyday communication (with their parents, hubands or wives, preschool or school age children). The second question is related to self-assessment of their verbal skills in relation to different kinds of speech activity (readiness for qualitative foreign communication). The authors of the article prove that Mari young people have a high level of linguocompetence in Russian and low level of linguocompetence in English. The Russian language is actively used by them in everyday life and often performs functions that could be performed by their ethnic language. 

DOI: 10.7256/2409-7144.2016.11.1905

Abstract: The subject of this article is the attitude of population of the Republic of Mari El towards mass media (TV and radio programs, newspapers, and magazines), fiction in Mari language, as well as their place within the information and communication environment of this polyethnic region in the middle of 2010’s. The problematic in hand is examined considering such factors as national affiliation, age, and place of residence of the respondents. The article represents generalization of the results of sociological survey among the residents of the Republic of Mari El, carried out in 2015 by the sociological department of Mari Language, Literature and History Scientific Research Institute named after V.M.Vasilyev on the topic “Interethnic and Interconfessional Relations in the Republic of Mari El”. The author implements the method of discourse-analysis, within the framework of which examines public consciousness of the population in its census multilayerdness.  The Mari TV and radio broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, and fiction primarily represent interest for the indigenous (Mari) population of the Republic, but such interest is not widespread; it attracts very little attention of the representatives of other nationalities. This work proves the relevance for the region of formulation of the ethnocultural and integration strategy in public consciousness that is aimed at preservation of ethnic identity through the media and fiction in native language, as well as development of bilingualism and polylingualism, particularly within the Russian, urban and youth environment.