Notes on the construction of a ‘subjective vitality questionnaire’ for ethnolinguistic groups

TLDR

The vitality framework categorizes ethnolinguistic groups by their capacity to act as distinct collective entities, and objective measures using status, demographic, and institutional data provide a useful tool for cross‑cultural comparison. The study introduces a questionnaire to gauge how group members subjectively view their group’s position relative to key outgroups on vitality dimensions. The questionnaire captures subjective vitality perceptions, and the article discusses integrating these with objective vitality data to better explain interethnic dynamics in multilingual and multicultural contexts. Subjective vitality perceptions can be as influential as objective vitality in shaping interethnic behaviors.

Abstract

Abstract Group ‘vitality’ was recently proposed as a framework for objectively categorizing ethnolinguistic groups in terms of their ability to behave as distinctive collective entities in intergroup settings (Giles, Bourhis & Taylor, 1977). ‘Objective’ accounts of group vitality using status, demographic and institutional support data gathered from secondary sources appear a useful tool for comparing ethnolinguistic groups in cross‐cultural research. This article describes a new questionnaire designed to assess how group members subjectively perceive their owngroup position relative to salient outgroups on important ‘vitality’ dimensions. Group members’ ‘subjective’ vitality perceptions may be as important in determining interethnic behaviours as the Group's objectively assessed vitality. The article includes a discussion of how ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ vitality information can be combined to better account for the dynamics of interethnic relations in multilingual and multicultural settings.