The current state of the German island dialects in the Lower Volga region

This study is devoted to the fate of the German language island dialects in foreign language environment. The authors has explored the nature of the changes, the degree of dialectal features loss, indicate the possibility of developing new features. The sub dialects as elements of the language system were found to continue existing even outside the native language range. The peculiarities of language systems existence in extreme conflict conditions like those of the German dialects on the Volga region territory are of particular research interest, as they are influenced not only by the native language system, but also by another foreign language and culture. Language relations are determined not simply by coexistence of the two language systems, the German and Russian ones, and bilingualism of the majority of the German ethnic group representatives, but by the complex specificity of language processes in the past and even more complicated, specific current language situation, which determined the relevance of the article theme. n.