Language Attitudes of Estonian Secondary School Students

The results of a survey of language attitudes of Estonian secondary school students, ages 15 to 18, are presented, and the implications for the practice of language maintenance are discussed. The survey revealed that Estonian is valued as a token of identity but not much as a commodity in the sense of linguistic economy. It is argued that globalisation has changed the immediate communication domain from a national state level to a transnational level. Because of this global change, the traditional understanding of ethnolinguistic vitality may no longer be entirely adequate—the importance of subjective vitality factors gain importance over objective vitality factors. This means that in the near future, ideological issues concerning group identity become the key that determines which communities retain their language and which are to lose it.