Purpose: One important motivation to maintain a minority language is the perception that it allows people to connect meaningfully with other people who speak that language. Subjective ethnolinguistic vitality (SEV) refers to the perception that a language is important and useful. The primary purpose of this study was to test whether the language of the interview affected SEV of German among participants living in an English-majority-language part of Canada. A secondary purpose was to test whether cumulative use/exposure of German was related to German SEV. Approach: To address the primary purpose, we tested whether the language of the interview affected participants’ SEV. To address the secondary purpose, we tested whether length of residency and/or German proficiency were predictors of German SEV in a linear regression. Data: Speakers of German in an English-majority-language community ( N = 30) were interviewed in both German and English about the SEV of German (about a month between language sessions). According to census data, German speakers make up 2% of the local population. Findings: The participants estimated the local German-speaking population at 16% (on average), regardless of the interview language. On other questions, participants estimated a moderate SEV for German (averaging around 4 on a scale of 1–10), with no difference by interview language. Length of residency was a negative predictor of participants’ estimates of the local German-speaking population. German proficiency was a positive predictor of SEV ratings. Implications: These results suggest that personal experience and motivation to maintain German might contribute to more positive SEV of German. Originality: This study found no evidence that the language of the interview affected participants’ SEV of a minority language. There were different predictors of SEV, depending on which aspect of SEV was considered (i.e., estimate of the local population vs. other measures of SEV).
Mumesohn et al. (Wed,) studied this question.