Language maintenance or shift, determinants of language choice among Soviet immigrants in Israel

Due to a worldwide escalating prevalence of migration, there has been an ever-increasing interest in studying language contact phenomena both at the social and individual level, where research on language maintenance and shift holds a prominent position. The present study explores the process of language maintenance and shift among immigrants from the former Soviet Union living in Israel. The study investigates the immigrants' self-reported language proficiency and language use and considers the different sociological and psychological factors affecting their language behavior. The study makes use of Landry and Allards' macroscopic model of the determinants of additive and subtractive bilingualism (1987, 1991) that was adopted with slight modifications. The investigation includes a representative sample of 728 adult Russian immigrants who grated to Israel within a span of a decade, between the years 1989 and 1998. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires, memoirs and semi-structured in-depth interviews. The study employs univariate, bivariate and multivariate methods of analysis as well as a LISREL analysis. The results indicate that with respect to self-reported language behavior, the immigrants largely use Russian when communicating within the private domain (e.g. home, close friends), whereas both Hebrew and Russian are equally utilized in the public domain (e.g. work, school). Concerning perceived language proficiency, immigrants possess a generally high level of Russian proficiency while Hebrew proficiency is moderate, with basic interpersonal skills stronger than cognitive academic ones. The present research lends considerable support to the model of additive and subtractive bilingualism. The findings illustrate that both socio-psychological factors and psychological factors significantly affect the level of Hebrew proficiency and patterns of language use. The socio-psychological factors include socio-economic status, mixed-marriages, languages used by second generation, perceived immigrant status, participation in formal education and Hebrew language courses, army service, social networks, exposure to the media and satisfaction with social reception. The psychological factors include attitudes, motivation, language myths, ethnolinguistic identification and vitality. It is revealed that despite positive attitudes towards maintenance of the Russian language and culture as well as strong in-group identification, there are clear indications of a gradual language shift process. Examples of language shift include indicators such as a decrease in Russian proficiency among younger immigrant, taking part in formal education and compulsory army service which in turn strongly increases Hebrew proficiency and Hebrew language use in the public as well as in the home domain, a preference of Hebrew and English over Russian in terms of language priorities, high motivation to integrate into Israeli society as well as higher out-group vitality compared with in-group vitality. The study concludes that with no intervention, despite the numerous conditions favoring language maintenance among the Russian immigration, it is more than likely that this community will follow the path of all other migration waves in Israel and lose their language.