Empirical Evaluation of a Mathematical Model of Ethnolinguistic Vitality: The Case of Võro

Ehala, Martin; Niglas, Katrin

doi:10.2167/jmmd537.0

Cited by 16 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Assimilation theory (Gordon 1964) advocates for unidimensional acculturation, meaning that the deeper the acquisition of a new culture, the more marked is the displacement of the original one. The model of ethnolinguistic vitality (Giles, Bourhis, and Taylor 1977;Ehala 2010), used for example, for studying the Setos' neighboring group -Võro identity (Ehala and Niglas 2007) supports the latter paradigm on a group level. The strength of group identity or a group's ethnolinguistic vitality is measured in contrast to important out-groups.…”

Section: Acculturation and Bicultural Identitymentioning

confidence: 96%

Setos' way to manage identities and well-being: shame and pride, opposition and openness

Valk

Särg

2015

Natl. pap.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The paper examines how the tiny ethno-cultural group of Setos constructs its identity in the multicultural context. The study examines the validity of three acculturation models and tests earlier findings on the relationship between identity and well-being. The results suggest that Setos have clearly adopted a multicultural identity strategy while not merging different identities, and that they have managed to separate the material wellbeing from the pride of their identity. Despite its small size and peripheral location, the Setos' way to preserve their identity in a constantly changing context is an interesting lesson for other indigenous groups, and also for bigger neighbors.Setos -a tiny indigenous ethno-cultural group situated on the Estonian-Russian border area -are worth wider attention for several reasons. There are several in-depth studies on Seto culture and identity (Eichenbaum 1998;Jääts 1998;Runnel 2002a) that focus on historical and ethnographical analyses while psychological aspects of acculturation, (bicultural) identity formation and psychological well-being in relation to identity, have deserved much less attention. In the social psychological research tradition, acculturation is studied mainly among immigrant groups, and cultural and psychological changes of indigenous communities in Europe but also elsewhere have deserved much less attention. In the European perspective, only a couple of studies about Saami, Roma, Basque, and other indigenous people's acculturation issues can be found.Current study that follows social psychological theories of acculturation and bicultural identity development asks whether the principles of acculturation theories proved in numerous immigrant studies apply also for the sedentary group related to majority culture for hundreds and thousands of years? Seto culture shares some elements with neighboring cultures but also has several unique aspects. Their language could be called a dialect of Estonian, but if spoken properly Estonians have trouble in understanding it. Setos practice Russian the Orthodox religion with pagan elements, and have well-preserved unique folk traditions: national costumes, traditional holidays, and folk music, including the existence of bridal and funeral laments and a very special polyphonic folk song leelo. Setos, who have never been more numerous than 20,000 people and whose territory is currently divided between two countries, have survived through four different political regimes during the

show abstract

Section: Acculturation and Bicultural Identitymentioning

confidence: 96%

Setos' way to manage identities and well-being: shame and pride, opposition and openness

Valk

Särg

2015

Natl. pap.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The theoretical model outlined in the previous section was operationalised in Ehala and Niglas (2007) in the form of a quantitative survey questionnaire which was further elaborated on the basis of its performance and for the requirements of the current study. In all, there are 60 statements in the questionnaire built on the Likert scale principle.…”

Section: The Design Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Hot and cold ethnicities in the Baltic states

Ehala

Zabrodskaja

2013

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The article discusses the temperatures of the main ethnic groups in the Baltic states: Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and their three Russian-speaking communities, and the Latgalian and Polish minority groups in Latvia and Lithuania, respectively. The study uses a triangulated methodology that includes a survey questionnaire for quantitative study and an associated protocol for a semi-structured focus group interview. The aim of the methodology is to make the notion of ethnic temperature quantitatively assessable, while retaining the opportunity for a rich qualitative description to understand its nature. The quantitative analysis confirms the wide divergence of subgroups within each ethnic group, each of which has a different ethnic temperature. The (intergroup) interaction of the members of these subgroups influences both the average temperature of the in-group and the temperatures of significant out-groups. The findings are interpreted to forecast the nature of ethnic processes in the Baltic states. IntroductionThe recent history of the Baltic nations is a textbook example of changes in ethnic temperature. Before WWII, the Baltic states were very mono-ethnic, with minorities of less than 10% of the total populations. Lithuania had a territorial conflict with Poland in which the Polish minority played an active part, while the other two Baltic countries did not have significant minority-majority conflicts.All three were annexed by the Soviet Union just before WWII and were incorporated into the Soviet Union. During the Soviet time, Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians seemed relatively cold, there were no major revolts, life was organised along Soviet lines and Soviet ideology was propagated in education, media and culture. The Soviet power encouraged immigration from the other parts of the Soviet Union. As a result of this process, large Russian-speaking communities were formed in Latvia and Estonia, which amounted to 34% and 30% of the populations, respectively, at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union.These Russian-speaking communities were multi-ethnic, Russians making up the largest share, but also including many Ukrainians, Belarusians and members of other ethnicities. Some of them were Russian-ethnic bilingual; some had already shifted to Russian prior to immigration to the Baltic states, while others shifted to Russian while in the Baltic states. The Russian-speaking population was a mobile, ethnically cold category

show abstract

“…Groups sensitive to language prestige, such as women, younger residents, people with higher education, and urban dwellers (see Labov 2001 for underreporting;see Aikio 1994), reported less frequent use of South Estonian. Ehala and Niglas (2007) have noted that the dialect is neither utilized nor appreciated in the Estonian society. However, sociolinguistic studies suggest that Võru is still perceived by local people as the rightful rural community language in the Võru area of southeastern Estonia (Koreinik & Pajusalu 2007;Mets & Praakli 2007).…”

Section: Contextualizing South Estonianmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Discourse of (De)legitimation: The Case of South Estonian Language

Koreinik¹

2011

Journal of Baltic Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Empirical Evaluation of a Mathematical Model of Ethnolinguistic Vitality: The Case of Võro

Cited by 16 publications

References 21 publications

Setos' way to manage identities and well-being: shame and pride, opposition and openness

Setos' way to manage identities and well-being: shame and pride, opposition and openness

Hot and cold ethnicities in the Baltic states

Public Discourse of (De)legitimation: The Case of South Estonian Language

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About