On Methods of Studying Linguistic Attrition in Bilingual Text (Example of Russian-Udmurt Bilingualism)

The article is devoted to the study of bilingual texts from the point of view of establishing signs of linguistic attrition, which is understood as the process of destruction of the native language under the influence of extra- and intralinguistic factors. Based on the empirical material collected in the field work, as well as on the analysis of the texts of modern Udmurt fiction, the study reveals the key functions of code switch — the first sign of linguistic attrition. The paper also offers examples of calculating the proportion of linguistic attrition in texts with lexical units adapted and not adapted to the matrix language. The quantitative results are ranked according to the following criteria: level 0 (intact text) — the proportion of linguistic attrition is 0-5%; level 1 (mostly intact text) — 5-15%; level 2 (moderately impaired text) — 15-30%; level 3 (strongly impaired text) — 31-50%; level 4 (very strongly impaired text) — 51-75%; level 5 (the language is at the stage of losing its lexical and grammatical features) — 76-99%. The presence of universal units for determining the linguistic attrition in a bilingual text will ensure comparability of results in different language groups, which is essential for a deep understanding of the processes of linguistic adaptation and assimilation of a linguistic identity.