Language use and childrearing in cross-linguistic Norwegian-Russian families in Norway

Abstract: This study investigated the phenomenon of transmission the minority language to the children in fifteen Russian mother /Norwegian father families living in Norway, with a focus on the mothers experiences of this issue. The three questions guiding this study were: 1) What kind of personal aspirations influence the mother s decision to raise her child bilingually or not, and what contexts in turn influence these aspirations? 2) What are the major factors influencing the process of establishing Russian language use in mother-child communication? 3) What are the consequences of various language use patterns employed by the mothers for children s Russian language development? The grounded theory method was chosen as a research tool in the current investigation, while semi-structured interviews were employed for data collection. This study shows that all the mothers, but one were initially very motivated to transmit their native language to their children. Five aspirations for the minority language transmission have been delineated: the desire for a close emotional relationship with the child, the desire to convey knowledge of an extra language, the desire to prevent disrespect from the child because of the mother s accented spoken Norwegian, the desire to cultivate a familiar bond in the foreign country and the aspiration to have close ties with the Russian family. These motives were in turn influenced by intrapersonal, family, situational and socio-historical factors. Throughout the research process I have identified a close link connecting the paternal competence in Russian, emotional status of relationship between the parents and the minority language use within the mother-child units. Based on this observation, three family contexts have been delineated: 1) limited paternal competence in Russian / close emotional connection 2) sufficient paternal competence in Russian / close emotional connection 3) limited paternal competence in Russian / distant relationship. The childrearing arrangements in the families, influenced by the Norwegian socio-historic context, affected further the mothers language use patterns. Analysis of the data revealed certain consequences of different language use patterns for children s active bilingualism. The children, whose mothers were inconsistent in their language choice, were unlikely to develop an active use of the Russian language. On the other hand, the mothers who were adherent to Russian managed to establish an active use of this language by their children