Original scientific paper
The influence of sociolinguistic factors on bilingual communities - Croatian bilingual communities in Istria and Wien
Gordana Hržica
orcid.org/0000-0001-6067-9148
; POLIN, ERF, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Nevena Padovan
; UCSD, San Diego, USA
Melita Kovačević
; POLIN, ERF, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Bilingualism is widely spread phenomena existing in almost every single country. Studies have presented the advantages of bilingual development, especially in language related factors such as metalinguistic awareness, literacy, narrative abilities etc. However, there is a large impact of social factors relevant for achieving the full spectrum of these abilities. Different types of bilingual communities are characterized by different social and language factors. In the presented research two groups of Croatian bilingual speakers are compared (bilingual speakers of Italian and Croatian language in Istria and bilingual speakers of German and Croatian language in Vienna) according to the parameters that indentify the type of bilingual community and their etnolinguistic vitality. Results enable the predictions of the influence of bilingualism on linguistic and overall development and suggest possible changes within the communities that would have a positive impact on that development.
Keywords
bilingual communities; socioeconomic položaj; language položaj; etnolinguistic vitality
Hrčak ID:
81944
URI
Publication date:
28.12.2011.
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