Two languages – one identity. Vershina – a Polish village in Siberia

Vershina was founded in 1910 by Polish voluntary settlers. During first two decades the village consisted Polish cultural and language enclave, but as a result of changes caused with communism, repressions and collectivization, the village lost its former ethnocultural homo-geneity. Nowadays the village regained its minority rights: religious, educational, cultural and organisational. However, during the years of communism and ateization, their culture and customs became much more similar to other Siberian villages. The linguistic changes were parallel to the evolution of the social situation. The language of Vershina is not a literary Pol-ish language but an interdialect based on dialects from the first settlers’ places of origin. Pol-ish dialect of Vershina has been under influence of Russian, which is the language of educa-tion, administration, and surrounding villages. Children and youth from Polish-Russian fami-lies become monolingual and use Polish very rare, only as a school subject and in contacts with grandparents. However, they still recognize both languages and try not to mix them. Thus, we can still speak about two systems. The cultural situation is completely different. During over 100-years history of the village, its cultural adopted many Russian, Soviet and Buryat elements. Nowadays even the maintained traditions are modified and constitute a cul-tural hybrid, which is the basis of a hybridized identity.

Michał Głuszkowski