Family language policy in families of Ukrainian origin: maintaining ties to heritage and fostering well-being

Abstract

Ukrainians constitute the third largest ethnic group in Estonia (The Population and Housing Census, 2011). In the same time, it regrettably becomes evident that the maintaining of the language and culture of the Ukrainian minority living in Estonia and their attitudes towards their own heritage language have hardly been studied at all (see also Küün, 2022). This study seeks to fill mentioned gap by adding information on the family language policy practiced by the Ukrainians living in the Republic of Estonia to the field of research concerned with family language policy (FLP) and transmission of the heritage language and culture. The article describes the role of Ukrainian Sunday schools in two Estonian towns, Tapa and Sillamäe. Some of the parents of children studying Ukrainian language and culture in Sunday schools in mentioned towns are involved as informants of the study. I used four semi-structured interviews in frame of case studies as my research method. Study results reveal that the role of language and culture related Sunday schools should certainly not be underestimated in strengthening national mindsets and a sense of belonging, learning the heritage language, and encouraging the use of Ukrainian.