THE IMPACT OF LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES ON THE LANGUAGE PRACTICES OF ROMA IN SLOVAKIA

This study aims to attempt to elucidate how a complex network of language ideologies affects the attitudes of the language community of the Roma in Slovakia towards Romani and how certain language ideologies lead to particular language practices depending on how they represent the interests of an individual (or a group). As language ideologies related to the Roma's attitudes to Romani and their communication practices represent a complex system of interrelated ideologies, two language ideologies shall be defined as fundamental for the purposes of this study: the ideology of a minority language and the ideology of the language of a national minority. These two ideologies shall be understood as opposing each other. The ideology of a minority language carries negative connotations. It is characterized mainly by the view of Romani as an inferior language, which is shared by the majority population and consequently also by some members of the minority group. This ideology is related to accepting the absolute dominance of the official state language, the ideology of the harmfulness of bilingualism, and the ideology of language assimilation. The ideology of the language of a national minority, on the other hand, has some positive connotations. It includes the ideology of a fully-fledged language, the ideology of the equality of all languages, the ideology of standard language, or the ideology of children's right to education in their mother tongue. Both fundamental language ideologies are framed by the ideology of official language and the ideology of bilingualism, which acquire different manifestations in these systems.