The ethnic and linguistic identity of Russian-speaking young people in Estonia

Abstract

This article investigates the development of the identity of young non-Estonians, depending on their language environment and linguistic origin. The study focuses on the changing ethnic and linguistic identity of people in areas with a large concentration of non- Estonians - Tallinn and Ida-Virumaa. A comparison is made between young people from monolingual and bilingual families who have graduated from schools with Russian language of instruction. The purpose is to find out how linguistic origin, language environment, frequency of communication with speakers of Estonian and the level of skills in the official language relate to the ethnic and linguistic identity of young non-Estonians; and how the linguistic self-identification of non-Estonians and their identity change due to factors influencing the society. Written questionnaires were used as the method for conducting the research.