Lithuanian language: ideals, ideologies and identity shifts

The standardisation of language, the ideologies of standard language, dialects and other sociolinguistic speech varieties as well as the understanding of the role of language in society are inseparable from the broader societal developments and changes within the public space. Our project aims to explore how different accents are associated with particular social identities in contemporary postmodern Lithuania, also to reflect upon the shifts of Lithuanian language ideologies and of the use of language in spoken media since the Soviet times (1960-ies) until now. We also hope to forge academic ground to the public debates about Lithuanian language and to make an impact on the prevailing attitudes in language policy.

The project comprises four strands:
1) the experimental research of language attitudes among upper-secondary school students in 9 regions of Lithuania, 2) video recorded focus group discussions with high school students about linguistic diversity, 3) the retrospective research of TV and radio speech, 4) the historical research of the institutional apparatus of language monitoring and ideologies of standardization. The project is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania. ►