The basic sociolinguistic questionnaire survey on some aspects of the present-day ethnolinguistic situation among the youth of the Kalmyk Republic (Russian Federation) confirmed a number of expected facts and hypotheses. In the main it is the considerable domination of Russian over the Kalmyk language. Specific is also the level of ethnic consciousness, at which the declaration of Kalmyk nationality prevails among the respondents of Kalmyk background; this fact, nevertheless, frequently ranges between the confines of ethnic and civil concepts of “nationality” and the link to the Kalmyk language competence is not strict and binding either. At the same time, the statistical processing of the survey, however, showed crucial differences between respondents depending on the type of study, sex and place of origin; the calculation of the (non)homogeneity of responses yielded highly informative findings. It was the students of the lower secondary school in Šin Mer village (one of the few places where Kalmyk is still the language of communication of all generations) which emerged as “the most Kalmyk” out of the investigation. Students of Kalmyk Studies at the Kalmyk University came second. Thus, despite much progress and success in the field of ethnic-linguistic revitalization, the level of Kalmyk identity and language problems of Kalmykia remain a multivalent and open issue.
The text sums up the conclusions of the author’s sociolinguistic investigations conducted
(particularly in the form of questionnaires) in years 1996-2001 and published in the monograph Sprachverhalten und ethnische Identität. Sorbische Schüler an der Jahr tausendwende (Language Attitudes and Ethnic Identity. Sorbian Students at the Turn of the
Millennium) in 2005. Investigations were carried out at many Sorbian schools in Upper
Lusatia and were aimed at ethnic awareness of the students, their choice/use of Sorbian or
German, attitude to both languages, and reception of culture among young Sorbs aged 11-19. The author mainly focused on the Sorbian Grammar School in Bautzen (Budyšin in Sorbian). In order to make the generalisation of the acquired outcomes possible, analogical surveys were also conducted at lower secondary schools in the villages of Crostwitz/Chrósćicy, Ralbitz/Ralbicy, Panschwitz-Kuckau/Pančicy-Kukow, Räckelwitz/Worklecy, Radibor/ Radwor, and in the municipality of Bautzen/Budyšin. The findings presented, analyzed and interpreted in the páper can, to a great degree, be in
general applied to the present-day young Sorbian population as a whole. Simultaneously, they yield data for possible comparisons with the situation of other minority ethnic groups in Europe (e.g. the Welsh, the Romansh, Breton...).