Types of bilingualism and their quantitative distribution in the Moscow region diaspora group (I)

The article gives a brief overview of studies on the formation of the current language situation in the Chuvash Republic. The Chuvash have transfered from monolingualism to bilingualism: first to Chuvash-Russian, then to Russian-Chuvash, or even to Russsian monolingualism in the cities, the language situation with Chuvash-Russian bilingualism was in fact diglossal. The Language Law, passed in 1990, has contributed to strengthen the position of the Chuvash language, along with Russian it enjoys the stutus of the state language in the Chuvash Republic, it is more widely used in various spheres. However the vitality of the language causes anxiety due to the fact that more than a half of the Chuvash ethnos lives outside the Republic. The results of the author's studies on the quantitative distribution of passive and active bilingualism by age cohorts in the Chuvash Diaspora in the Moscow region are presented below. Active bilingualism is typical of those born in the country, who have vocational education, except younger age cohorts, who almost all have higher education. Passive bilinguals are natives of cities, towns and district centres of the Republic, regardless of their education level. Russian is the dominant language for all the respondents in the Moscow region, but, unlike passive bilinguals, who keep only fragmentary knowledge of the Chuvash language, active bilinguals use their ethnic language in family, everyday, friendly communication, as a rule with seniors or people of the same age group, almost never with children. Regular meetings as a part of the events organized by the Chuvash diaspora, the communication with fellows in the ethnic language, the use of Chuvash by younger respondents in writing, the wider scope of modern technologies, the overcoming of stereotypes regarding Chuvash as a backward, unprestigious language, the awareness taken by especially younger and middle-age respondents of the value of bilingualism, all contribute to the language maintenance and functioning, though somewhat partially in the Chuvash diaspora in the Moscow region.