Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of the research on language attitudes among the Serbian community in Vienna?

The research aims to understand how the Serbian community in Vienna perceives the Serbian and German languages. It focuses on language dynamics in the diasporic context: language usage (L1 and L2), language maintenance and shift (L1), language learning (L2), and bilingualism, as well as on the preserving own culture in Vienna.

What are the key (socio)linguistic concepts this study deals with?

  • Language maintenance and shift: (not) preserving the mother tongue in the context of a regionally and socially more powerful language
  • Language contact: the close interaction between two varieties coexisting in the same areal
  • Ethnolinguistic vitality: a group’s ability to maintain and protect its existence in time as a collective entity with a distinctive identity and language
  • Bilingualism: the ability to use two languages for communication, respectively
  • Code-switching: alternating between two or more varieties in conversation
  • Language attitudes and ideologies: attitudes/feelings/beliefs about language and ideologies underneath them
  • Heritage language: the minority language, usually immigrant or indigenous, spoken mainly at home and surrounded with more powerful language.

Where is this study conducted?

The research was conducted during the guest research fellowship of the author (Sanja Miketić Subotić) at the Austrian Center for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage (ACDH-CH) in Vienna, from 1st of February to the 1st of August 2024, financed by the Austrian Academy of Sciences JESH scholarship, under the full name “Attitudes of the Serbian Community in Vienna towards Serbian and German Language and Culture”. The views expressed in this study are solely that of the author, or, if quoted, the ones of the participants in the study, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author’s employer, company, institution or other associated parties.

How is this study conducted?

The study employed mixed-methods approach and triangulated quantitative (questionnaires, closed-type, both online and in printed version, via SPSS) and qualitative methods (focusgrup, to prevent giving socially desirable answers, and semi-structured interviews, to unravel deeper ideologies), aiming to gather the comprehensive data and shed a light on this completely underexplored topic.

Who can participate in this research, and what are the criteria for participation?

Participants include self-declared members of the Serbian community in Vienna of legal age, who have been residing in the city for more than one year, across various age groups and migrant generations.

What are the expected outcomes of this research project?

The outcomes are expected to provide insights into the linguistic and cultural dynamics of the Serbian community in Vienna, aiming to bring its conclusions publicly, in open-access, to the observed community members, further researchers and decision makers.

Which variables were observed?

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Education level
  • Mother tongue
  • Parents’ and partner’s mother tongue
  • Born and raised in Austria or not
  • Immigrant generation (1st, 1.5, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)
  • The return to the homeland
  • Urban / rural
  • Religion

Why didn’t this study cover all BCS languages?

Due to the term of the research stay not long enough to cover all the BCS languages, as in that case, we would need at least three times more participants, this study focused at one community, and not in its whole. Serbian Vlachs and Roma participants were also excluded from this research, as pilot study results suggested their attitudes may be specific. We warmly suggest these topics for further researchers and encourage them to use the same methodology, yet to adapt some questions due to the cultural specificities of the observed community.

Where can participants find the questionnaire, and in what languages is it available?

The questionnaire is available online and in paper format, both in Serbian and German, to accommodate the linguistic preferences of all participants. If you are a legal age Serbian (or Serbian descendant) currently living in Vienna for more than one year, feel free to fill it in and support our study - your opinion matters to us. It is available at the link https://forms.gle/ec7KVD9P23s6yPa69. If you are willing to participate in the sociolinguistic interview, do not hesitate to email us at sanja.miketic@pr.ac.rs.

Who is the author of this study?

Sanja Miketić Subotić, PhD, works as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Pristina, at the Department of Serbian Language and Literature. Her research interests include the contemporary Serbian language, sociolinguistics (language attitudes, standard language ideology, language contact, language maintenance and shift), and lexicology. She defended her PhD thesis in 2017 at the University of Belgrade (Serbia) on language attitudes and ideologies towards Serbian dialects and the standard Serbian language, and has more than 15 years of experience teaching the Serbian language (mainly Lexicology, Sociolinguistics, Orthography, General Linguistics) at the tertiary level. She is also into teaching Serbian as a foreign language and has published two books on learning Serbian at the CEFR B1 and B2 levels. She believes in open-access science and blended learning. Currently (1.2.-1.8.2024), she is engaged as a guest researcher at ACDH-CH, funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences JESH scholarship, conducting qualitative and quantitative research within the project “Attitudes of the Serbian community in Vienna towards the Serbian and German language and culture” (SLAV) and focusing on the results of language contact in respective community’s perception of both Serbian and German language and culture in terms of language maintenance and shift, language usage, code-switching, German language learning, and the culture-specific differences, in the Austrian diasporic context.

Who can be contacted for more information about the research project?

For more information, interested parties can contact the author of the project, Sanja Miketić Subotić, via email at sanja.miketic@pr.ac.rs.