Spanish imperfect subjunctive form –se

This paper analyzes use of and linguistic attitudes toward the Spanish imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive –se form (e.g., tuviese ‘had’ and hubiese tenido ‘had had’, respectively). The study consists of two phases, P1 and P2. P1 is quantitative in nature and focuses on production of the form; P2 is qualitative in nature and centers on linguistic attitudes associated with –se. P1 data come from 24 Spanish speakers and a semi-controlled oral/written interview. P2 data are from 15 Spanish speakers and a questionnaire. Chi-square results were significant for nationality, i.e., Spaniards used the –se form significantly more than Latin Americans. Sex, modality (oral/written), syntactic context, and verb type were all found insignificant. Qualitative comments from P2 suggest an overall negative association with the –se form. A somewhat weak relationship between the form and Spanish nationality emerged from the Latin American cohort, but not strong enough to suggest a definitive stereotype.

Teaching and Learning of Geometry as a process of Objectification: conditions and obstacles to argumentation and proof. The role of natural language, specific language, and figures

This paper examines some examples (taken from research conducted over the years) that show students’ linguistic attitudes in geometry tasks. The examples are framed within the Theory of Objectification with reference to the notion of sensuous cognition, semiotic means of objectification and levels of generality. We show the struggle students live, at higher levels of generality, in intertwining natural language, specific language and the spontaneous use of geometrical figures, bound to perception and kinaesthetic activity. Within the networking paradigm, we coordinate the Theory of Objectification and Duval’s semio-cognitive approach to frame the interplay between the ideal and the material that occurs in geometrical argumentations and proofs.

BILINGUALISM AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDES OF RESIDENTS OF THE REPUBLICS OF SOUTHERN SIBERIA IN THE CONTEXT OF URBANIZATION

Statement of the problem. The article examines the problems of co-functioning of the state languages of the republics of Southern Siberia in the context of urbanization processes that affect the acceleration of ethnocultural and linguistic assimilation of minority ethnic groups. The purpose of the article is to identify the features of the development of national-Russian bilingualism in the context of the linguistic attitudes of the speakers of the second state languages – Altai, Tuvan and Khakass, in the urban communicative space of the republics of southern Siberia. Research results indicate the commonality of bilingualism development in the three republics of Southern Siberia, determined by its legislatively enshrined status. The features of the actual use of its components correlate with the historically established ethno-demographic structure of the population, the pace and monocentrism of urbanization in the capital cities. Language attitudes of urban residents of the three republics in relation to the second state languages are generally positive, however, they are differentiated in the context of the ethnicity of the respondents, correlating with the ingrained social and ethno-identification attitudes in relation to languages of different status, which determines their communicative power. The metropolitan respondents of the titular nationalities demonstrate more positive linguistic attitudes in terms of their readiness to support the second state languages in comparison with the Russian respondents. At the same time, the level of fluency in all types of speech activity in native languages among young people in the capitals of the republics of Southern Siberia is lower than in rural areas.

The Influence of Family Language Policy and Social Networks on Language Attitudes and Language Use of Russian-Language Youth

Summary An individual’s linguistic attitudes and language repertoire are influenced by a variety of environmental factors. Linguistic research has shown that language use is highly influenced by language policies and social networks. This article seeks to analyze how certain language policies and social relationships affect one’s linguistic behavior. The aim of this study is to investigate the linguistic attitudes and language-use tendencies of Russian youth in Lithuanian cities. The participants of this study were Russians and Russian-speakers based in the three largest cities of Lithuania. Their ages ranged from 15 to 29 y.o. A total of 128 respondents participated in the survey. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to obtain the necessary data. The study revealed the main tendencies of language use of Russian youth, as well as the most distinct language attitudes in different cities. The results showed that the Russian community in Vilnius and Klaipeda is quite strong. The young generation tend to have stronger ties with other members of the group comparing to the Russian community in Kaunas. Russian remains the main language of communication in Russian families in Klaipėda and Vilnius. Meanwhile, in Kaunas, the Lithuanian language became the main language in both the public and private sectors. According to the collected data, school is one of the biggest influences in the formation of linguistic repertoire. A social network created in an educational institution might have even greater impact on a young person’s linguistic attitudes than family and its language policies. Other studies also showed that young individuals want to fit in, so they usually choose the language their peers use (Vilkienė, 2011; Geben, 2013 and others). Further linguistic research could examine larger groups, different ethnic minorities, observe the development of language use tendencies. Also, the information has to be updated periodically.

Vos and tú in the linguistic landscape

Although vos is common in speech in Medellín, it is considered non-prestigious for writing (Agudelo Montoya et al. 2016). Nonetheless, vos is an important marker of local identity (Jang 2013) that increasingly appears in writing (Weyers 2016a). Its presence suggests a potential upward shift in its prestige. For that to happen, favorable attitudes toward its use in writing are called for. Here we examine the linguistic attitudes of 222 medellinenses toward vos, tú, and their corresponding verb forms in advertising. We find that (1) all speakers prefer vos; (2) they favor the pronoun vos over its corresponding verb forms; (3) younger speakers prefer vos over their older counterparts; and (4) men prefer voseo verb forms while women prefer tuteo forms. Given the overall positive attitudes toward vos, it is possible that its prestige will increase.

Translanguaging in Polish minority schools in Ukraine and Lithuania

Summary This paper is based on newly collected data from the research project on translanguaging and language attitudes carried out in Lviv and Horodok, Ukraine and in Vilnius, Lithuania. The data covered in the article consists of 90 responses from students at Ukrainian and Lithuanian Polish minority schools. The study involves a description and contrast of the Polish communities in Ukraine and Lithuania, and analysis of the sociolinguistic peculiarities of the Polish language, focusing on translanguaging in the daily use of several languages by members of Polish ethnic minority schools. It aims to report the linguistic behaviour tendencies. The study shows that different state and school language policy contexts are characterised by varying linguistic attitudes and language proficiency. The paper reveals the importance of translanguaging for maintaining the Polish language within a mixed culture environment.

Sociological theories in the study of sociolinguistic positions

The article provides an overview of the classical theories of sociology and social psychology, aimed at studying social and linguistic attitudes. It tells about the formation of the concept of social attitudes, the history of development and evolution of formation. The process of formation of social attitudes V. Thomas and F. Znanetsky, their methodological measurements G. Allport, R. Lapierre, L. Thurston, V. A. Yadov, I. F. Devyatko, the problem of formation is considered on the basis of the social paradigm M. Weber, E. Durkheim, J. Habermas, E. Giddens, M. Rokich, P. Bourdieu and others.

The influence of social factors on the prosody of Spanish in contact with Basque

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The main goal of this paper is to analyse how social factors determine the degree of occurrence of intonational features of Basque in Spanish in the Basque Country (i.e. Basque Spanish). Design/methodology/approach: We concentrate on information-seeking yes/no questions. In Castilian Spanish, these end in a rising contour, whereas in Basque they end in a rising–falling contour. The data were gathered through sociolinguistic interviews with 12 speakers of Basque Spanish with different linguistic profiles: monolingual Spanish; first language Spanish–second language Basque; and L1 Basque–L2 Spanish. Data and analysis: 172 information-seeking yes/no interrogatives were obtained from conversational speech. Their final intonational contours were annotated in the Spanish Tone and Break Index model of intonational analysis. Findings/conclusions: 79% of all information-seeking yes/no questions had final configurations with a rising–falling circumflex contour. Only 21% had the final rising contour of Castilian Spanish. Speakers differed in their frequency of occurrence of falling contours, but the differences did not correlate with the speakers’ linguistic profile (monolingual vs bilingual). Rather, higher percentages of yes/no questions ending in a falling contour were found among speakers who had (a) a higher degree of contact with the Basque ethnolinguistic group, and (b) more positive attitudes towards the Basque language and the Basque ethnolinguistic group. Originality: Methodologically, this study is original because the intonational analysis is carried out on natural speech rather than on read or elicited speech. This study is also original from a theoretical point of view because it is the first one to underline the role that subjective factors such as linguistic attitudes play in the adoption of features of a language variety from another contact variety. Significance/implications: Our research opens up a path to continue investigating the weight of subjective social factors such as linguistic attitudes in explaining the variation in the influence of one language variety over another.