SPECIFIC DYNAMICS OF A NATIONAL MINORITY LANGUAGE IN THE LOWER VOLGA REGION GEOPOLITICAL SPACE

This article is devoted to examination of the German language island dialects specific dynamics in foreign language environment. Along with the nature of changes in the German national minority sub-dialects (in Russia), the degree of the original dialectal features loss is determined in this study. It was found that sub-dialects as elements of the language system continue to exist even outside the native language range. The authors define the German dialects in the territory of the Lower Volga region as variants of an authentic (German) language system in the extreme developmental conditions. This issue is of particular research interest, which determines the relevance of the article. It was found that island sub-dialects are affected both by the native language system, and by a foreign language and culture. Language relations are determined not only by coexistence of the two language systems, German and Russian, and bilingualism of the majority of the German ethnic group representatives, but by the complex specificity of the language processes in the past and even a more complicated current language situation. Lexical, morphological and phonetic levels of island sub-dialects in their dynamic development have been analyzed. The invariability of a number of dialect features is explained by the language systemic nature and archaization processes. The hypothesis that the national origin at turning points of a person's life can lead to the increase in ethnic identification has found confirmation. Cultural and linguistic elements that were previously limited by law become a means of persuasion and cohesion. Minority representatives whose identity is threatened with loss, preserve and emphasize their ethnic cultural and language origin more often than the majoritarian society members.