Abstract
In this article we present a qualitative analysis of empirical findings from an international project on intergroup attitudes and contact in five Central European countries specifically concerning language use. The project concentrated on the interplay of intergroup contact and perception between the members of national groups in the borderlands between the Czech Republic and Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia. The open statements analysed here about the contact situations and the ensuing evaluation of the Others were collected as part of an online questionnaire (N=1959). After a short theoretical introduction we reveal the intertwined nature of construing language use: first in each specific borderland, then in the triads speaking together either in the native language of one of the groups (Czechs with Austrians and Germans) or with each speaking their own native languages (Czechs with Poles and Slovaks). Finally we highlight several effects we have observed as a result of being able to compare the situation in more than one neighbourhood, for instance, the effect of the different statuses of the languages involved, or the connection between the language used in contact and a feeling of proximity.
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The article was supported by grant no. 13-25656S from the Czech Science Foundation and by RVO: 68081740 from the Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. We would like to thank all anonymous reviewers as well as non-anonymous colleagues for their comments and suggestions, especially Barbara Lášticová.
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Petrjánošová, M., Leix, A. Languages of borderlands, borders of languages: Native and foreign language use in intergroup contact between Czechs and their neighbours. Humaff 23, 658–679 (2013). https://doi.org/10.2478/s13374-013-0156-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s13374-013-0156-y