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Publications, working papers, and other research using data resources from IPUMS.

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Title: Language Shift and Maintenance among Russian immigrants from the former Soviet Union

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2011

Abstract: The resolution of the language questionwhether tomaintain the mother tongue, shift to the mainstreamlanguage, or try to maintain two or more languages in thefamilycreates significant psychological complications andlinguistic reflections. Methods of sourcing these challengesvary, but the most effective data source to date is the theIntegrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) data set. Ithelps to address the quantitative part of this research.Findings suggest that weak tendencies toward languagerevitalization could be explained by the influx of Russian-speaking immigrants to the United States between 1990 and2000, when opportunities for Russians/Russian speakers tocommunicate in their native language sharply increased.However, in the big picture, this occurrence did not reversethe continuing shift from Russian to English. Multivariateanalysis suggests that the strongest effects are related tolinguistic isolation and the number of generations livingwithin the same household, both of which tend to bepositively associated with multilingualism.

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Kasatkina, Natalia

Series Title:

Publication Number: 18

Institution:

Pages:

Publisher Location:

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Migration and Immigration, Other

Countries:

IPUMS NHGIS NAPP IHIS ATUS Terrapop