Ethnic aspects of identification and linguistic situation in non-capital cities of Tatarstan

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the topic of the social functioning of the Tatar language – a topic that is not losing relevance in the region – and the ethnic aspects of urban identity. Its use in the communication process in public spaces of non-capital industrial cities of Tatarstan has been examined, based on the materials of mass-scale sociological surveys conducted in Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhnekamsk, Almetyevsk, and Zelenodolsk. The paper analyses the vision and assessments of the Tatars and Russians, who live in the given cities, regarding the situation developing with the use of the language in administrative, medical, preventive, and educational institutions of settlements, in public transport, on the streets and shopping areas, and at mass cultural events. A conclusion is drawn about the similarity of views of representatives of the identified ethnic groups concerning the importance of its presence in the socio-cultural space of the city, which is the result of the long-term language policy of the republic. On the other hand, discrepancies were discovered in their assessments of the frequency of the Tatar language use in different environments. Among other things, this is due to the differences in its perception by Tatars and Russians. Certain differences in the degree of the Tatar language use between the cities of interest have been noted. It is related to the ethnic composition and, to some extent, the location of the cities. Generally, the language can be heard in the non-capital industrial cities of the republic somewhat more often than in Kazan, with the exception of its satellite city, Zelenodolsk. The conducted study showed a reasonably high degree of the significance of local identity and the continuing relevance of ethnic identity for residents of the cities in question. At the same time, among the factors in the formation of a positive attitude towards the cities, the ethno-cultural factor (the answer option “there is an opportunity to live among representatives of my nationality and communicate in my native language here”) turned out to be important for a little more or less than a tenth of Tatar townspeople.

Keywords

• language
• tatar language
• urban spaces
• urban identity
• linguistic situation
• non-capital city
• tatarstan