Assessing Heritage Language Vitality: Russian in the United States

Abstract

The article offers a comprehensive assessment of the linguistic viability of Russian as a heritage language in the United States, following a framework that provides three factors involved in promoting language vitality (Lo Bianco, 2008a, 2008b): capacity, the level of knowledge that heritage speakers of Russian have in the heritage language and the factors that create conditions for development of such capacity; opportunities for the use of Russian in different domains and contexts; and heritage learner motivations and desire for continued use of Russian and for developing the skills necessary for its maintenance and transmission