Social Determinants of the Linguistic Competence of Polish Minority Representatives in Stryi (the Lviv Region)

Pawlaczyk, Angelika

doi:https://doi.org/10.17651/SOCJOLING.35.13

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Title: Social Determinants of the Linguistic Competence of Polish Minority Representatives in Stryi (the Lviv Region)

Abstract:

The situation of the Polish minority living in Stryi is not clear-cut. Depending on the communication situation, members of the community speak Ukrainian, Russian or Polish. The latter is used mainly in contacts with Polish-speaking relatives and friends, during church masses and celebrations held at the Society of Polish Culture of the Lviv Region (TKPZL). The article attempts to discuss the social conditions of the linguistic competence of the Polish minority representatives. The language material was obtained during the summer school held in 2019 at the Stryi branch of TKPZL, its results were compared with those of the 2018 pilot study at the same institution.Two methods were used in the research – a questionnaire and an interview. The aim of the first one was to collect written material on the beliefs of respondents, among others, about their language skills. The second method allowed the informants (expressing their willingness to discuss the previously completed questionnaire) to develop their written beliefs and the actual assessment and verification of their skills.The analysis of the collected material showed that the Ukrainian language is currently the basic communication tool for the representatives of the Polish minority in Stryi, and the Polish language is used either occasionally or practically not at all. Both in the questionnaires and in the interviews, the respondents/informants took care to comply with the literary norm of the Polish language. The spontaneous change of the topic of the conversation during the interviews allowed for a more precise assessment of language skills and the verification of deviations from the norm in the statements. In the course of the conducted research, it was shown that the Polish language has a high position in the value system of the Polish minority representatives in Stryi, which stems from, among others, the will to preserve the language of the ancestors and maintain family traditions. Although nowadays it is used occasionally, there has been an increased interest in it in all generations, especially in the younger generation, which results not only from blood ties, but also from its attractiveness.