Estonian Tatar Families Navigating Between Four Languages

Öz

This article presents some aspects of the family language policy of Estonian Tatars, the parents’ strategies for maintaining the Tatar language and the variety and value of these micro-level language support efforts. In the interviewed families both parents and children see the maintenance of Tatar as beneficial and the children appreciate that they are raised multilingually. Some scholars claim that Russification of the so-called “third ethnicities” in Estonia still continues, but the results of the current research reveals that this is not the case. Still, Russian is present in many domains due to the fact that the Tatar parents often were schooled in this language and have a poor command of Estonian; now Estonian is preferred as an instruction language for the children. During the Soviet period between the 1940s and the end of the 1980s, the Tatar language carried also a religious meaning and Russian was referred to as the language of the non-believers. Today the main motive for young people to speak Tatar is to maintain the communication with their family and relatives.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Tatar language
• sociolinguistics
• multilingualism
• Estonia
• education
• family language policy

Dört Dil Arasında Gezinen Estonya Tatar Aileleri

Öz

Bu makale, ebeveynlerin Tatar dilini sürdürme stratejilerine odaklanarak Estonya Tatarlarının aile dili politikasına ışık tutmaktadır. Bu çalışma, bu tür ailelerin mikro düzeyde yapılan girişimlerinin çeşitliliğini ve değerini göstermek için Estonya'da bulunan birçok topluluktan birine genel bir bakış sunmaktadır. Görüşmelerin yapıldığı ailelerde, ebeveynler ve çocuklar Tatar dilini sürdürmenin faydalı olduğunu görmekte ve çocuklar çok dilli yetiştirilmelerini takdir etmektedirler. Estonya'da sözde üçüncü etnik grupların Ruslaştırılmasının durmadığı iddia edilmişti. Mevcut araştırma sonucunda durumun bu şekilde olmadığı anlaşılmaktadır. Ebeveynlerin Rusça eğitim almış olmalarından ve Estoncayı iyi bilmemelerinden dolayı Rusça hâlâ birçok alanda mevcuttur. Ancak Estonca artık çocukların eğitim dili olarak tercih edilmektedir. Sovyet döneminde Rusça inanmayanların dili olarak anıldığından Tatarca din bir anlam da taşıyordu. Günümüzde gençlerin Tatarca konuşmaktaki ana sebepleri aileleri ve akrabaları ile ilişkilerini muhafaza etmektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Tatar dili
• toplumdilbilim
• çok dillilik
• Estonya
• eğitim
• aile dili seçimi

Kaynakça

1. Abiline, Toomas & Ringvee, Ringo (2016). “Estonia”. Svanberg, Ingvar & Westerlund, David (eds), Muslim Tatar Minorities in the Baltic Sea Region. Leiden: Brill. p. 105–127.
2. Ahmetov, Dajan & Nisamedtinov, Ramil (1999). “Tatarlased.” [Tatars] Viikberg, J. (ed.), Eesti rahvasteraamat [Estonian Nations’ Book]. Rahvusvähemused, -rühmad ja -killud [National Minorities, Groups and Fragments]. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus [Estonian Encyclopedia Publishing]. p. 449–452.
3. Aidarov, Aleksandr & Drechsler, Wolfgang (2013). “Estonian Russification of Ethnic Minorities in Estonia? A Policy Analysis”. Trames Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 17(2), p. 103−128.
4. Alexandrov, Daniel; Baranova, Vlada; Ivaniushina, Valeria (2012). “Migrant Children in Russia. I. Migration, Ethnicity and Segregation in St. Petersburg”. SESL WP 001. Saint Petersburg: Sociology of Education and Science Laboratory. https://publications.hse.ru/preprints/74932531 [accessed 05.07.2021]
5. Boix-Fuster, Emili & Torrens, Rosa M. (2011). Les llengües al sofà. El plurilingüisme familiar als països de llengua catalana [Languages on the coach. Family multilingualism in Catalan-speaking territories]. Lleida: Pagès Editors.
6. Bulajeva, Tatjana & Hogan-Brun, Gabrielle (2008). “Language and Education Orientations in Lithuania: A Cross-Baltic Perspective Post-EU Accession”. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 11, p. 396–422.
7. Brown, Kara D. (2013). “Language Policy and Education: Space and Place in Multilingual Post-Soviet States”. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 33, p. 238–257.
8. Cashaback, David (2008). “Assessing asymmetrical federal design in the Russian federation: A case study of language policy in Tatarstan”. Europe-Asia Studies 60(2), p. 249–275.

9. Doyle, Colm (2018). “ ‘She’s the big dog who knows’ – power and the father’s role in minority language transmission in four transnational families in Tallinn”. Philologia Estonica Tallinnensis 3, p. 17−43.
10. Doyle, Colm (2013). “To make the root stronger: Language policies and experiences of successful multilingual intermarried families with adolescent children in Tallinn”. Schwartz, M. & Verschik, A. (eds), Successful Family Language Policy: Parents, Children and Educators in Interaction. Dordrecht: Springer. (Multilingual Education). p. 145−175.
11. Fogle, Lyn Wright (2012). “Parental ethnotheories and family language policy in transnational adoptive families”. Language Policy 12, p. 83–102.
12. Hallaste, Peeter-Paul (2015). Perekonnakeelepoliitika jaapani-eesti perekondades Tallinnas [Family Language Policy in Japanese-Estonian Tallinn families]. MA thesis. Tallinn University: Tallinn.
13. Iqbal, Maria (2019). Estonian Tatars family language policy on the example of three families. MA thesis. Tallinn: University of Tallinn.
14. Jonasson, Andreas Ali (2017). Tala muslimska! Islams och det tatariska språkets roll i skapandet av en finländsk tatarisk identitet. [Talk Muslim! The role of Islam and the Tatar language in creating a Finnish Tatar identity] MA thesis. Södertörn: Södertörns högskola.
15. Jorma, Attila (2016). “Estonian Tatars and their language”. Eker, S. and Şavk, Ü.Ç. (eds), Endangered Turkic Languages II B: Case Studies. Ankara: Uluslararası Türk Akademisi [International Turkic Academy]. p. 265–276.
16. Kaasik, Brita (2016). Viie Eesti-Taani Mitmekeelse perekonna keelepoliitika [Five Estonian-Dutch multilingual families language policy]. MA thesis. Tallinn: University of Tallinn.
17. Kaplan, Robert B. & Baldauf, Richard B. (1998). “Introduction”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 19(5), p. 355–357.
18. King, Kendall A. & Fogle, Lyn W. (2013). “Family language policy and bilingual parenting”. Language Teaching 46, p. 172–194.
19. Klaas, Maarja (2015). “The role of language in (re)creating the Tatar diaspora identity: the case of the Estonian Tatars”. Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics 9(1), p. 3–19.
20. Küün, Elvira (2011). “Minority languages in Estonian Segregative Language Environments”. ESUKA – Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics 2(1), p. 223–239.
21. Lepa, Ege (2020). “The ‘Tatar Way’ of Understanding and Practising Islam in Estonia”. Studia Orientalia Electronica 8(2), p. 70–81.
22. Nurmekund, Pent (1975). Materjale tatari keele ja Eesti tatarlaste kohta. [Materials about the Tatar language and Estonian Tatars] Käsikiri: Tartu ülikooli käsikirjakogu. [Manuscript]
23. Pavlenko, Aneta (2008). “Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries: Language Revival, Language Removal, and Sociolinguistic Theory”. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 11, p. 275–314.
24. Poggeschi, Giovanni (2004). Language Policy in Latvia. Noves SL.: Revista de sociolingüística, Nº 3. http://www.gencat.cat/llengua/noves/noves/hm04tardor/docs/poggeschi.pdf [accessed 05.07.2021]
25. Ramoniene, Meilute (2013). “Family Language Policy and Management in a Changed Socio-political Situation: Russians and Russian Speakers in Lithuania”. Schwartz, M. & Verschik, A. (eds), Successful Family Language Policy: Parents, Children and Educators in Interaction. Dordrecht: Springer. (Multilingual Education). p. 127–143.
26. Rannut, Mart & Rannut, Ülle (2010). “Russification of Non-Estonian Pupils in Tallinn”. Eesti Rakenduslingvistika Ühingu aastaraamat / Estonian Papers in Applied Linguistics Vol. 6, p. 243–259.
27. Riionheimo, Helka; Kaivapalu Annekatrin; Härmävaara Hanna-Ilona (2017). “Introduction: Receptive multilingualism”. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 40(2), p. 117–121.
28. Safina, Kamila (2020). Bilingualism in the Republic of Tatarstan: language policy and attitudes towards Tatar language education. MA thesis. Vytautas Magnus University: Kaunas.
29. Schwartz, Mila (2010). “Family language policy: Core issues of an emerging field”. Applied Linguistics Review 1, p. 171–192.
30. Spolsky, Bernard (2019). “A modified and enriched theory of language policy (and management)”. Language Policy 18, p. 323–338.
31. Spolsky, Bernard (2012). “Family language policy – the critical domain”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 33:1, p. 3–11.
32. Spolsky, Bernard (2004). Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33. Suleymanova, Dilyara (2009). “Yazykovaya Situatsiya v Respublike Tatarstan.” [Language Situation in the Republic of Tatarstan.]. News Agency of Muslims of Russian Federation. p. 1–16. http://www.infoislam. ru/publ/statji/jazykovaja_situacija_v_respublike_tatarstan/5-1-0-11281 [accessed 05.07.2021]
34. Szmolka-Andreson, Ann (2015). Eesti-ungari mitmekeelsete perede keelepoliitika viie pere näitel [Estonian-Hungarian multilingual families language policy on the example of five families]. BA thesis. Tartu: University of Tartu.
35. Statistikaamet [Statistical office] (2018). RV0222U: Rahvastik soo, rahvuse ja maakonna järgi, 1. Jaanuar. https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat/rahvastik__rahvastikunaitajad-ja-koosseis__rahvaarv-jarahvastiku- koosseis/RV0222U/table/tableViewLayout1 [accessed 05.07.2021]
36. Statistikaamet [Statistical office] (2011). RL0431: Rahvastik emakeele ja soo järgi, 31. detsember 2011 https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat/rahvaloendus__rel2011__rahvastiku-demograafilised-ja-etnokultuurilised- naitajad__rahvus-emakeel-ja-keelteoskus-murded/RL0431/table/tableViewLayout1 [accessed 05.07.2021]
37. Tovar-García, Edgar Demetrio (2017). “Migration Background and Educational Achievements in Russia”. Migraciones Internacionales 9(1), p. 69–93.
38. Tovar-García, Edgar Demetrio & Alòs i Font, Hèctor (2017). “Bilingualism and educational achievements: the impact of the language used at home by Tatar school students in Tatarstan, Russia”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38(6), p. 545–557.
39. Verschik, Anna (2010). “Contacts of Russian in the post-Soviet space”. Applied Linguistics Review 1, p. 85–128.
40. Verschik, Anna (2008). Emerging bilingual speech: From monolingualism to codecopying. New York: Continuum.
41. Verschik, Anna & Doyle, Colm James (2017). “Young Swedish-Estonian Returnees to Estonia: Reflections on Family Language Policy and a Multilingual Upbringing”. Siiner, M.; Koreinik, K.; Brown, K.D. (eds), Language Policy Beyond the State. Cham: Springer International. p.123−140.
42. Viikberg, Jüri (2000). “Estonian National Minorities: Past and Present”. Vebers, E. (ed.), Integracija un etnopolitika. Riga: Jumava. p. 470–482.
43. Wertheim, Suzanne (2002). Language ‘Purity’ and the De-Russification of Tatar. Berkley: University of California.
44. Wigglesworth-Baker, Teresa (2016). “Language Policy and Post-Soviet Identities in Tatarstan”. Nationalities Papers. Taylor & Francis Online. 44(1), p. 20–37.
45. Wigglesworth-Baker, Teresa (2015). Language Policy and Russian-Titular Bilingualism in Post-Soviet Tatarstan. PhD thesis. Sheffield: University of Sheffield.