Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? Tarptautinio įvaikinimo situacijos tyrimas ir sąsajos su emigracija

BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas LANGUAGE PREFERENCES AND LANGUAGE BEHAVIOUR: KIENO THE IMPACT IS STRONGER? STUDY OF THE SITUATION AND INTERACTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION EMIGRATION KEY WORDS: language attitudes, Lithuanian language preservation, international adoption, linguistic behaviour. ANNOTATION Linguistic attitudes and behaviours are important factors in the preservation of a language in the context of two languages in one space, especially when one of those languages is the dominant language of the environment and the other is a minority or only the language of the home environment, for example in emigration. The article examines language regulations in atypical circumstances – international adoption. The data of a sociolinguistic survey of families who adopted children from Lithuania to Italy are analyzed. In the investigated situation, the attitudes cannot affect the actual linguistic behavior, which gives an opportunity to see how language is not maintained and how quickly this happens, despite the positively acting linguistic attitudes of adoptive parents. ABSTRACT Language attitudes and language behaviour are important factors for language maintenance in a situation of two languages in one space, especially when one of those languages is the dominating language of the environment and the other is a minority or only a home language, for instance, in case of emigration. The paper deals with language attitudes in an atypical situation of international adoption. It analyses data from a sociolinguistic survey to Italian families who have adopted children from Lithuania. In the situation under study the attitudes cannot influence the language behaviour and this gives a possibility to observe how the language is not maintained and how rapid the process is, despite the positive language attitudes of the adoptive parents. JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ. Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? | 2 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 INTRODUCTION Kalbos išlaikymo išvykus gyventi į užsienį klausimas nagrinėjamas jau seniai, ypač pastaraisiais dešimtmečiais globalizacijos kontekste, o lietuviams jis tapo itin aktualus dėl exceptionally large emigration after Lithuania regained its independence. Lithuanian linguists are interested in linguistic issues related to emigration, and a number of various types of research are being carried out in order to clarify the linguistic attitudes, behaviour, language policy of the Lithuanian diaspora, etc. Two large diaspora research projects were carried out by Vilnius University researchers in 2011–2013 and 2015–2017 (Ramonienė 2015, 2019a), examining aspects of language acquisition in emigration and issues of bilingualism (Blažienė 2016; Hilbig 2020; Vaisėtaitė 2020). The aforementioned studies on the Lithuanian diaspora and other sources (e.g. media) show that people living abroad who left Lithuania after the restoration of independence often take Lithuanian language for granted, at least initially. For recent emigrants, it remains close and commonly used because of the technological possibilities, which allow not only frequent audio and video communication with relatives or friends remaining in Lithuania, but also to follow Lithuanian news, watch various broadcasts, etc. Thus, for the first generation of immigrants, the question of maintaining the language usually does not even arise. This becomes relevant when talking about the new generation, in other words, young children who have left with them or who have already been born in emigration. They live in conditions where the amount of the surrounding language usually exceeds the amount of Lithuanian language many times, so such conditions are not favorable for the acquisition or maintenance of Lithuanian language, which could be influenced by other factors. Linguists studying language preservation agree that the linguistic attitudes of the individual and the community are of great importance. They consist of several components and affect language atskiriant jas nuo elgesio, kitaip tariant, atvejus, kai nuostatos elgesio veikti negali, nes kalbos behaviour, but it is not easy to determine exactly how and how much. This article wants to discuss the provisions, just free. This atypical, even experimental situation arises in the case of international adoption, when families adopt children from another country and do not speak its language. For almost two decades, children who cannot find families in Lithuania have been adopted Jogilė Teresa Ramanaite. Language attitudes and language behaviour: whose influence is stronger? | 3 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 from Lithuania abroad. Foreigners who come to meet the child, due to the emotional importance and tampa tikrais Lietuvos gerbėjais ir, nors niekas to daryti neįpareigoja, domisi lietuviškais papročiais, Lietuvos istorija ir kitais klausimais, bet kalbos, suprantama, neišmoksta. Šiame motives of adoption itself, as well as due to the adoption procedure, often spend some time in Lithuania. The article analyzes the data of a quantitative sociolinguistic survey presented to such adoptive parents and aims to clarify how adoptive parents’ linguistic attitudes are related to the maintenance of the adoptee’s native language. It should be noted that it is particularly difficult to obtain data on adoption, because the secrecy of adoption is protected by law. Therefore, even abroad, any research involving adopted children is only possible by inviting the adoptive parents to volunteer, usually for the children’s language disorders, or by inviting the adopted children who are already adults, for example, to undertake neurolinguistic studies (cf. Glennen 2002; Geren et al. 2005; 1 Hyltenstam et al. 2009; Gauthier, Genesee 2011; Pallier et al. 2003; but also see Schmid 2012; DiGregorio 2 2009; Vrobel et al. 2020). The empirical material used in this article is part of a broader sociolinguistic 3 study, in which the respondents were adoptive parents of children with normal development without specific language disorders. In addition, the respondents had adopted relatively recently, so the language development is still well remembered. The aim of the article is to look at linguistic attitudes when they are separated from possible attitudes and the situation of international adoption in general and the specific survey of adoptive parents, and then the situations that emerge from the kalbinio elgesio, ir pateikti įžvalgų, kurios būtų aktualios ne tik kalbos tyrėjams, bet ir emigracijoje gyvenantiems lietuviams. To bus siekiama pirmiausia trumpai aptariant kalbines answers to the open questionnaire. In summary, insights relevant to typical diaspora situations are analizuojant apklausos uždaruosius klausimus, susijusius su aptariama tema, ir aptariant atskiras presented. 1 About K1 atria under special conditions. 2 Ethnographic research from an educational perspective. 3 A broadly interdisciplinary work on the situation in the United States, mainly from a social science perspective. Jogilė Teresa Ramanaite. Language attitudes and language behaviour: whose influence is stronger? | 4 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 1. KALBINĖS NUOSTATOS IR KALBINIS ELGESYS EMIGRACIJOS IR ĮVAIKINIMO SITUATIONS Linguistic attitudes, although they are often discussed, are not easy to investigate. It is a complex phenomenon that researchers are trying to determine in both direct and indirect ways. According to the researchers of attitudes, linguistic attitudes can be treated as a system of cognitive, emotional and behavioural components (Garrett et al. 2003; Garrett 2010). The cognitive component is related to the knowledge of certain truths of reality, say, that by knowing a language I will get a better job. The sensory component relates to the feelings of preferences on the subject matter, for example, like to listen to songs in that language. Both of them can affect the behavioral component, for example, such incentives lead to the decision to learn a language (see Garrett et al. 2003: 3). Language behaviour can also be understood as language practice, language use. People living in emigration usually think about preserving their language especially when they have children or when they reach school age. The first moment, the moment of birth, is important to decide what language will be spoken with the children, which is especially relevant in mixed families. The second, mokyklinis, momentas dažnai būna susijęs su ilgalaike perspektyva, kitaip tariant, emigracijoje living young family may decide to return before the children start school. Otherwise, it is likely that the family will remain in emigration until the children finish school. Of course, family lives can take many different forms, and people's mobility has increased in recent decades, but these two aspects remain important. It has been observed that often emigrants only start to think about the importance of their mother tongue when their children are born. It is understood that positive attitudes towards a particular language can have a positive impact on language learning or retention, while negative attitudes can have a negative impact. However, it is not easy to determine how much the cognitive and emotional components actually influence individuals’ language behaviour. This article is limited to the issue of language preservation. From previous studies, in which people who left Lithuania after the restoration of independence were interviewed by interview, it is possible to form an image that the cognitive and emotional components of attitudes are positive with regard to the Lithuanian language and, especially, the emotional Jogilė Teresa Ramanaite. Language attitudes and language behaviour: whose influence is stronger? | 5 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 component is quite important at least for those people who agreed to participate in this type of research. However, these two components do not necessarily affect language behaviour. In other words, almost all Lithuanians living in emigration would like their children to learn Lithuanian, but not all of them take action, and some do not even think they should, or are prevented by other factors (Jakaitė-Bulbukienė 2015a, b; Ramonienė 2019b; Gudavičienė 2019; Hilbig 2019, 2020). This article aims to look at this difference from a different perspective. In the case of international adoption, adoptive parents do not have the possibility to take concrete action because they do not speak Lithuanian. However, as already mentioned, during the adoption process they get acquainted with Lithuania, feel connected to it, because it is the homeland of the adoptive parents, often even become fans of Lithuania, learn a few words or phrases in Lithuanian. They do this both out of personal interest and consciously so that they can tell about Lithuania to their adopted children when they grow up and start asking questions. Thus, the conditions for the formation of cognitive and sensory components of attitudes are created, but the third component – real linguistic behavior – becomes impossible as a result. It should be mentioned that in some cases some indirect contact is possible, for example, contacts are maintained with Lithuanians abroad. The fact of adoption is a secret protected by law, so it is not easy to collect the data of the survey. The survey data analyzed in this article was collected by sending the questionnaire to adoptive parents not directly, but anonymously, through accredited organizations in Lithuania that represent them in adoption procedures. The survey was conducted in 2010 and is part of a broader study (see Ramonaitė 2011). Data were collected from 74 Italian families, which adopted 117 children from Lithuania. The answers were processed in SPSS. Table 1 provides data on adopted children by age group and by whether the child was adopted alone or with siblings. 4 4 The age factor is not the subject of this article, so it will not be discussed in detail, but the general information about children provided here allows you to see the general data on the age of adopted children, as well as the fact that the number of children in the groups is quite similar. JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ. Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? | 6 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 TABLE 1. General data on adopted children: age and groups of children Age Total Groups of children with sisters Up to 4.5 years 12 10 1 23 From 5 to 6.5 years 8 16 7 31 From 7 to 8.5 years 9 16 6 31 From 9 years 10 12 10 32 Total 39 54 24 117 Adopted Adopted with Adopted with 2 one brother / sister brothers / Table 1 shows that two thirds of children were adopted with at least one sibling, so they could have had a native speaker. It also shows that 80% of children are adopted over the age of five, and at this age the language system is already practically formed. Although the language development of institutional pupils, especially those growing up in them from birth, is often delayed, it usually reaches a satisfactory level by approaching or approaching school age. It is also evident that about half of the children adopted are of school age, thus already acquiring the basics of writing in Lithuanian. The questionnaire contained both closed questions with multiple choice answers and open questions to which the adoptive parents could provide explanations or comments (the questionnaire was designed in accordance with the general requirements for questionnaires, see: Brown 2001; Milroy, Gordon 2003). Indirect questions were formulated to clarify linguistic attitudes and attitudes towards Lithuanian language. The whole questionnaire consists of 19 questions of different themes and lengths, and for adoptive parents it is presented in Italian (for other aspects see Ramonaitė 2011, 2013). This article is based on the answers to three key questions about attitudes, formulated in the questionnaire as follows: Do you think it is important for your child(ren) to learn foreign languages? A very important B important C not particularly important D not at all important to keep Jogilė Teresa Ramanaite. Language attitudes and language behaviour: whose influence is stronger? | 7 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 Why?…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Ar kada nors mėginote susisiekti su Italijoje gyvenančiomis lietuvių šeimomis / asmenimis ar in touch with Lithuania in any other way? A taip B ne Pastabos: .............................. Jei ne, ar būtumėte norėję tai padaryti? .................................. Do you talk about Lithuania in your family? A never B sometimes C often Notes:...................................... It also takes into account a couple of more specific questions relating to parents’ assessment of their children’s language skills. If several children were adopted, each was asked to provide a separate answer. These questions are formulated as follows: If a group of siblings is adopted together, do the children continue to communicate with each other in Lithuanian? If not, when did it stop? A yes B no C sometimes D says some words Notes:................... Does the child(ren) still speak/understand Lithuanian? (Two separate questions in the questionnaire) o speaks / understands o speaks with difficulty / understands a little o says a few words o no longer speaks / understands o not clear, because there was no opportunity In addition, questions were asked about the knowledge and use of foreign languages by the parents themselves. The answers to these questions proved to have an influence on both the language attitudes of the adoptive parents and the attitude to take action for the children’s language learning or the preservation of the Lithuanian language. Jogilė Teresa Ramanaite. Language attitudes and language behaviour: whose influence is stronger? | 8 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 2.1. Language attitudes and relationship with Lithuania Explaining language preferences, the question was asked whether it is important for adoptive parents that their child learns foreign languages. Almost all adoptive parents (96%) thought that foreign language skills were very important or important. Only a few indicated that it is not very important, and no one chose the option “completely unimportant”. The main reasons cited were that languages provide an opportunity to communicate with more people, that they are needed in terms tikslais, taip pat kad reikia mokėti bent dvi Europos kalbas. Tačiau šios teigiamos nuostatos kalbų of work, cultural knowledge or travel does not necessarily affect the real behaviour precisely on the issue of maintaining the Lithuanian language, because only a small number of respondents daugiau nei trečdalis šeimų išties palaikė ryšį su kalbančiais lietuvių kalba. Apie tam įtakos turinčius veiksnius bus rašoma vėliau. The aim was to clarify whether there are objective factors that influence the maintenance of contacts with Lithuania or Lithuanians. Since the adoptive parents are not Lithuanians and therefore do not have any kinship links in Lithuania (this could act as an objective factor, it is common in the Lithuanian diaspora), we tried to analyze other available data and see possible correlations. The value of languages is usually related to their own language practice. In other words, people who speak and use foreign languages themselves appreciate the benefits of both languages and language learning better and see greater value in learning them. It is usually important for parents to convey this understanding to their children and/or take action to educate them in this way (Dörnyei et al. 2006). Therefore, it was attempted to look at whether there is a connection between adoptive parents’ foreign language use practices and maintaining contacts with Lithuanians. Combining the comments on the question, in what way the adoptive parents tried to maintain contact with Lithuania or communicate with Lithuanians, and the answers to the question, whether they would have wanted to maintain contact and communicate, the following su kitomis iš Lietuvos į Italiją įvaikinusiomis šeimomis. JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ. Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? | 9 groups of answers were formed and are presented in Table 2: wanted to, but did not communicate; would like to communicate, but will probably do so in the future; did not communicate. The latter group includes adoptive parents who stated that they only maintained contact with their children. doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 TABLE 2. Parents’ knowledge and use of foreign (i.e. non-Italian) languages and maintaining contact with Lithuanians Communication with Lithuanians Parents' No one pays, At least one pays, At least one foreign pays and uses but does not use, %. %. language proficiency % Wanted Wanted to, but did not interact 8 16 0 and communicated 0 43 50 Maybe later 8 13 36 Not really 84 28 14 It is clear that those parents, of whom none speaks any foreign language (parents of 12 children), are mažiausiai linkę palaikyti ryšius su lietuviais (84 proc.). O tie, iš kurių bent vienas moka ir dažnai vartoja bent vieną užsienio kalbą, labiausiai suinteresuoti palaikyti ryšį (50 proc.). Tik nedidelė a part of them (14 per cent) do not see much need to keep in touch. More than one third of such parents (36%) and almost one third (16% and 13%) of parents who speak a foreign language but do not use it expressed a desire to communicate with Lithuanians or hope to do so in the future. Thus, there is a correlation between the parents’ knowledge of foreign languages and their efforts to maintain contacts with Lithuania and/or Lithuanians. Here it is worth mentioning briefly some of the peculiarities of adoption. Firstly, according to the law, four years after the adoption, the situation of the family and the child’s integration is monitored by various specialists and feedback reports are provided to the child’s country of origin, but this article does not consider this to be maintaining contact. Secondly, adoptive children have experienced the legacy of their parents, and often other traumas, so they often associate their entire past prior to adoption with this negative experience and for this reason strictly refuse to have any connections with the country of origin or its people. And the psychological well-being of the child is especially important for new parents and specialists who monitor children. Jogilė Teresa Ramanaite. Language attitudes and language behaviour: whose influence is stronger? | 16 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 The survey data shows that perhaps not all, but a large number of families have a positive view of Lithuania and try to introduce these provisions to their children of Lithuanian origin. Although, as already mentioned, in the case of adoption, there are situations when the country of origin is not remembered by the children themselves because of their negative experiences, families, with the help of specialists, try to help them gradually accept their roots, as this is also important for the psychological health of the child. 2.4 What remains of the Lithuanian language after more than a year? The attitudes of adoptive parents to foreign languages and Lithuania discussed so far show that the majority of them are very or more positive. Some families try to find native speakers for their children or try to maintain a relationship with the language and contacts with Lithuania. This is not easy to do. Already when discussing the adoption of brothers and sisters, it became clear that Lithuanian is spoken in the new country for a few months at best. The questionnaire also included a question about how adoptive parents evaluate the children’s ability to speak and understand Lithuanian. Understandably, parents who do not know the language and perhaps have not had any opportunity to meet people of Lithuanian origin cannot assess this exactly, so the answer option nes nepasitaikė progos“. Tie, kurie visgi pasirinko kitus atsakymo variantus, tikėtina, turi tam “uncertain, no basis. However, it should be emphasized that this is the declared language abilities of children. Figures 2 and 3 below do not include data on children who were adopted recently, i.e. within one year of adoption. The figures are given for the same age groups of children and are absolute 6 figures. As can be seen from Figure 2, only a few adoptive parents of older children indicated that they “speak” Lithuanian (N = 2) or “speak with difficulty” (N = 3) more than a year after adoption. The absolute majority of children of all age groups (N = 65) no longer speak Lithuanian. It is possible to include in this group those who “say a few words” (N = 17), since these are only a few elementary words, such as bread, milk, tea, which the child still learns in the period of adoption. 6 According to the results of the survey, there are 18 children who were adopted less than a year ago (in 9 families), 12 of them of school age. Quantitatively this is not very representative, but about 5 children stated that they speak Lithuanian, about 6 – that they no longer speak. JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ. Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? | 17 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 In Lithuania, adoptive parents learned and continue to use in the family. Of course, among those children who only know a few words, there are also older ones who knew Lithuanian well at the time of adoption. 2 PAV. Answers to the question “Does the child speak Lithuanian?” (more than one year after adoption, by age groups, absolute numbers) Parents’ assessment of how well their children understand Lithuanian is shown in Figure 3. Parents rate the ability to understand better than the ability to speak, but in essence it is very similar. The absolute majority (N = 59) of children of all age groups no longer understand Lithuanian after more than one year of adoption. Slightly more children of different ages, according to parents, “understand” Lithuanian (N = 10) or “understand a little” (N = 13). A larger proportion, compared to language production, did not have the opportunity to test passive language proficiency (N = 17). language language hard to say a few words no longerlanguage did not occur unclear because of occasions from 9 years 2 2 9 8 2 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 from 7 to 8.5 years 0 1 6 14 4 from 5 to 6.5 years 0 0 2 23 1 to 4.5 years 0 0 0 20 2 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ. Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? | 18 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 3 PAV. Atsakymai į klausimą „Ar vaikas supranta lietuviškai?“ (praėjus daugiau nei metams po It is understood that the survey data show the opinion of adoptive parents, their declared language abilities of the children, and the real language competence of the children was not tested. Nevertheless, very similar answers were received from different families: adopting different number of children; adopted children of different ages; responded after different periods of time since adoption. It turns out that major changes occur in the first few months of living in another country, and most often within a year. After a year, it is too late to take action to help preserve the child's native language. This is perfectly illustrated by the answer given by one family: After the first year of school, we learned that there is an opportunity to learn the mother tongue at school, and the teacher is Lithuanian. We agreed, but unfortunately it was too late because the child couldn’t remember anything. And so far he does not remember <...>. If he had started to learn Lithuanian from the first years of his life in Italy, he probably would not have forgotten everything and would certainly be able to speak his native language today. It's a shame!!! (age at the time of adoption 7 years; almost 3 years after adoption) understands a little understands no longer understands unclear because there was no opportunity from 9 years 4 7 12 1 from 7 to 8.5 years 4 1 14 8 from 5 to 6.5 years 1 3 18 4 to 4.5 years 1 2 15 4 These survey results have some similarities with the situation of Lithuanian children living in the diaspora. Data on children who were fluent in Lithuanian when leaving Lithuania were analyzed (the language development of several younger children did not reach the age norm), about half of them even learned to write in Lithuanian. Therefore, the main focus was on maintaining the language skills, but it turns out that this is very short-lived in the presence of another language. Studies of the Lithuanian diaspora show that even in mono-ethnic 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Jogilė Teresa Ramanaite. Language attitudes and language behaviour: whose influence is stronger? | 19 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION The results of the survey of parents who have adopted children from Lithuania show that the cognitive component of language attitudes basically works – almost the entire family considers language skills important. The emotional factor also plays a role – the attitudes of adoptive parents towards the Lithuanian language are very positive. As revealed by the comments given in the answers to indirect questions, the emotional component is even extremely strong – the adoptive families are inextricably linked to Lithuania, they feel respect and gratitude for this land. The component of linguistic behaviour cannot function in the case of international adoption, in other words, adoptive parents cannot speak to adopted children in their language of origin. However, it is clear that the first two components – cognitive and emotional – are so strong that in some cases families take certain actions to support the child’s language of origin: they look for communities or Lithuanians in their areas of residence, encourage older children to remember Lithuania and Lithuanian words, tell younger children about Lithuania themselves. In general, parents who speak Tačiau, nepaisant gerų norų ir pastangų, vaikai per mažiau nei metus laiko kalbą pamiršta. Net jei turi lietuviškai kalbėti gebantį pašnekovą, t. y. yra įvaikinti kartu su broliais ar seserimis, and use other foreign languages are more likely to be affected. immediately or after a few months nors bendra su kilmės šalimi, taigi ir su lietuvių kalba, o tai lemia praeityje patirtos psichologinės no longer speak Lithuanian with each other. Often children refuse to have anything traumatic. It is likely that by finally entering a calm family environment and receiving the necessary specialist help, the traumas can be at least partially overcome, but this takes many years and during this time the language skills are completely lost. Lithuanian families living abroad, siblings often begin to use the language of the environment with each other, even though Lithuanian is spoken in the family (Hilbig 2020). So leaving to live Jogilė Teresa Ramanaite. Language attitudes and language behaviour: whose influence is doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 stronger? | 20 Abroad, even with school-age children, it is worth considering the conditions and family language management that would help them maintain the language, if they want to do so. Parents’ favourable attitude towards the Lithuanian language or languages in general, i.e. positively acting cognitive and emotional components, is not enough. If parents appreciate the practical benefits of language skills, understand the importance of maintaining the mother tongue for the formation of the child’s identity, are very positive about Lithuanian and Lithuanian language and even take certain actions to maintain contact with Lithuanians, but do not influence the children’s language by their behaviour (in the case of international adoption, they do not speak the language), it is impossible to maintain the language. Even children of older school age, whose mother tongue is Lithuanian, in the presence of another language, their linguistic competences are almost completely destroyed over a year. It is precisely the component of linguistic behaviour that is necessary for monolingual and mixed families living in emigration to give the child the gift of speaking Lithuanian and being bilingual, rather than monolingual, speaking a language other than the parents’ mother tongue. LITERATŪRA Blažienė Agnė 2016: Lietuvių kalbos gramatinių ypatybių įsisavinimo anglų kalbos aplinkoje sunkumai. – Bendrinė kalba 89. Prieiga internete: http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba/article/view/176/193. Brown James Dean 2001: Using Surveys in Language Programs, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DiGregorio Daniela 2009: The Phenomenon of International Adoption with a Focus on Second Language Acquisition: A Case Study of Internationally Adopted Children and Adolescents from Russia: PhD thesis, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dörnyei Zoltán, Csizér Kata, Németh Nóra 2006: Motivation, Language Attitudes and Globalisation: A Hungarian Perspective, Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. Garrett Peter 2010: Attitudes to Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Garrett Peter, Nikolas Coupland, Angie Williams 2003: Investigating Language Attitudes, Cardiff: University of Wales Press. JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ. Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? | 21 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 Gauthier Karin, Genesee Fred 2011: Language Development in Internationally Adopted Children: AA Special Case of Early Second Language Learning. – Child Development 82(3), 887–901. Geren Joy, Snedeker Jesse, Ax Laura 2005: Starting Over: A Preliminary Study of Early Lexical and Syntactic Development in Internationally Adopted Preschoolers. – Seminars in Speech and Language 26(1), 44–53. Glennen Sharon 2002: Language Development and Delay in Internationally Adopted Infants and Toddlers. A Review – American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 11, 333–339. Gudavičienė Eglė 2019: Oslo lietuvių kalbų mokėjimas ir kalbinis elgesys. – Emigrantai: kalba ir tapatybė II, sud. M. Ramonienė, Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla, 149–182. 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II, Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla. Ramonienė Meilutė 2019b: Family and the Maintenance of the Heritage Language: The Case of Lithuanian Diaspora. – Politique Linguistique familiale/Family Language Policy. Enjeux dynamiques de la transmission linguistique dans un contexte migratoire. Dynamics in Language Transmission Under a Migratory Context, sud. Sh. Haque, F. Le Lièvre, Munich: LINCOM, 135–158. Schmid Monika S. 2012: The Impact of Age and Exposure on Bilingual Development in International Adoptees and Family Migrants: A Perspective from Holocaust Survivors. – Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 2(2), 177–208. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.2.2.03sch. Snedeker Jesse, Geren Joy, Shafto Carisssa L. 2007: Starting Over: International Adoption As Anatural Experiment in Language Development. – Psychological Science 18(1), 79–87. Vaisėtaitė Eglė 2020: Airijos lietuvių gimtosios kalbos žodyno dydis ir atricijos požymiai. – Taikomoji kalbotyra 14, 116–132. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15388/Taikalbot.2020.14.9. Vrobel Gretchen Miller, Emily Helder, Elisha Marr (eds.) 2020: The Routledge Handbook of Adoption, Abingdon, Oxon–New York, NY: Routledge. Gauta 2021 04 19 Priimta 2021 09 07 JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ. Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? | 23 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 LANGUAGE ATTITUDE AND LANGUAGE BEHAVIOUR: THE IMPACT OF WHICH IS STRONGER? STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION SITUATION AND LINKS WITH EMIGRATION Summary Language attitudes that are considered to be an important factor in language maintenance as they impact language behaviour. The paper analyses language attitudes in a particular setting of international adoption and this gives an opportunity to separate the cognitive and affective components of language attitudes from the behavioural component as the adoptive parents do not know the mother-tongue of their children. The data is taken from a sociolinguistic survey to the adoptive Italian parents of Lithuanian children. The respondents are 74 families and the information provided concerns 117 children adopted from Lithuania at different ages, the great majority over the age of 5, therefore with fully developed first language skills, about half also literate in their L1. Two thirds of the children were adopted together with at least one sibling. The paper analyses the declared language attitudes, the language practices (knowledge and use of foreign languages) of the adoptive parents and the relation to efforts of maintaining some kind of link to Lithuanian. The results show that families where at least one parent knows and uses at least one foreign language are more likely to take initiative in maintaining links. However, in the situation of adoption, i. e. children with experience of abandonment trauma, this is sometimes postponed due to psychological well-being of the child. Another aspect that is considered is the maintenance of Lithuanian in groups of siblings. The data shows that only groups of three siblings of older age (about 10 years old) maintain Lithuanian speaking among themselves for longer than a couple of months after the arrival to the country of the new life. In this case when no interlocutors in the mother-tongue are available for the children within the family, the adoptive parents put other efforts to maintain at least some links. For instance, contacting local Lithuanian communities or at least talking to the children about Lithuania. The open questions of the survey reveal greatly positive attitudes of the adoptive JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ. Kalbinės nuostatos ir kalbinis elgesys: kieno poveikis stipresnis? | 24 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.04 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 parents towards Lithuania, they consider this country to be of great importance in their lives via adoption. Despite the general very positive language attitudes of the adoptive parents both towards languages in general and towards Lithuanian and Lithuania as they hold it particularly dear, the children do not maintain the Lithuanian language. This shows in a very evident way how the cognitive and affective components of language attitudes, no matter how strong and positive they might be, when separated from the behavioural component, i. e. not speaking the language to the children, result in complete language loss within a such short period of time as one year. The situations described have resemblance with some language situations in case of emigration, a topic of great importance for Lithuanians in the recent decades, baring exactly this difference that the emigrated Lithuanian parents do have the ability to speak their mother-tongue to the children but sometimes are reluctant to do so or give up trying. KEYWORDS: language attitudes, maintenance of Lithuanian, international adoption, language behaviour. JOGILĖ TERESA RAMONAITĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas Petro Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania jogile-teresa.ra[email protected]