Language attitudes and endangered languages: a pilot study on the Kalmyk language

The paper aims to investigate the sociolinguistic situation of the Kalmyk language, focusing on the role of language attitudes. It initially offers background information on the language and its recent history, focusing on the language policies carried out both in the republic of Kalmykia and at Federal level in Russia (Sect. 1.1). The paper then refers to the literature concerning language endangerment and the importance of language attitudes in this special context (Sect. 1.2). The methodology adopted for the study is then illustrated (Sect. 2), examining materials, procedures, and participants. We studied language attitudes by running a questionnaire, whose results, despite the limits of a direct method, offer valuable resources to describe the present sociolinguistic status of Kalmyk (Sect. 3). Participants expressed generally favourable attitudes towards the Kalmyk language, although such a disposition emerged more in generic questions than in questions about specific language-related activities. The younger respondents (18–29 y.o.) turned out to be less positively oriented towards the minority language than the older ones. Therefore, although there seems to be widespread interest in the Kalmyk language, concrete actions for its promotion may not be easily implemented, especially when they concern the younger generations.