Mother tongue and language use in Armenian and Russian schools in Georgia

This paper deals with the different stages of language maintenance and language shift among some minority groups in connection with the language of education and character of settlement in Georgia. This paper is focused on the comparison of Armenian respondents educated via Russian and via Armenian, and also on Armenian respondents living in Tbilisi and in areas of compact Armenian settlement. The respondents’ different understandings and self-evaluations of the notion ‘mother tongue’ are also touched upon.