The Wendish Research Exchange - Ratajczak, Cordula and Nicole Dołowy-Rybińska: Lost Potential. The Problematical Question of the Sorbian “New

Lětopis Abstract 2019 2: Cordula Ratajczak and Nicole Dołowy-Rybińska: Lost Potential. The Problematical Question of the Sorbian “New Speakers”

This article draws on sociolinguistic fieldwork among students of an Upper Sorbian school, where the revitalization project of the minority is continuing in a threefold educational model designed to produce new speakers. It discusses the problems of these new speakers of the Upper Sorbian language within the context of this educational structure in different respects: the problem of how to acquire different areas of competence in Sorbian, how to get access to the language-speaking community and how to gain social practice in the language. This ethnographic research sheds light on the complicated process of identity building and on linguistic ideological issues that are raised about the legitimacy and authenticity of Sorbian language learners in the context of strictly divided Sorbian-German worlds. The article shows further how the lack of hybrid identity models prevents integration into the language-speaking community and the reversal of language shift in former Sorbian-speaking families.