(Title in Russian - 'Etnosotsialnye predposylki i faktory formirovaniya literaturnykh yazykov malykh etnitcheskikh grup (mikroyazykov)'). This paper distinguishes between primary and secondary motivations that influence the formation of literary languages. The former comprise the awareness of an ethnic, linguistic, and areal independence by the speakers, whereas the latter include literary and linguistic pre-tradition written in the mother or a foreign tongue; cultural, religious, and political movements, adverse socio-political conditions and assimilation policies, interest in the ethnoliguistic 'fate' of language islands, as well as subjective factors such as the presence of language awareness leaders. The primary motivations are crucial for answering the question as to whether a literary language is bound to emerge as a full-fledged language or not. The secondary motivations do not seem to overlap in every situation, which reflects the ways a literary language develops. The theses advanced in the article and typological distinctions are illustrated with linguistics data from various Slavic literary micro-languages.
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