RUSSIAN GERMANS AS THE SUBJECT OF SOCIOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH

The paper is devoted to the linguocultural and, to some extent, social and philosophical comprehension of the issue of the language and culture of Russian Germans. It illustrates the topicality of the problem, its being in demand in view of modern realities and language problems at the time of inter-ethnic contacts and dispersed living of representatives of many ethnic groups on different territories. The paper presents the data collected from the questionnaires and correspondence with a hundred respondents – ethnic Germans belonging to different generations. On the one hand, Russian Germans belong to two cultures; on the other hand, they belong to quite a new duel (inter)cultural world which came into being through acquisition and interpretation of the two original ones (German and Russian); that is Russian Germans may be regarded as something «singular (unique)», a new minority with its own history and culture. Besides that, only one-third of contemporary Russian Germans presents an effective link between the two cultures. The chronological section of the study provides different results which allow speaking of the dynamics, instability of the tendencies in self-identification of this specific ethnos which played and is still playing a very important role in inter-ethnic and intercultural processes in the history of Russia.