THE PROCESS OF BECOMING MULTILINGUAL: INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGE BIOGRAPHIES OF POLES IN BUKOVINA

This article focuses on multilingual female speakers born in Bukovina in the 1920s using the language biography method. Analysing selected language biographies of Poles living in southern and northern Bukovina entails focusing on a heritage language. The language biography method shows the development process of individual language awareness. The cases analysed in the study indicate that it is difficult to preserve the linguistic and cultural identity of an individual in mixedlanguage marriages. For Bukovinian Poles, the Polish language and the Roman Catholic religion are factors of identification and indigenous values symbolizing their belonging to the culture of their ancestors. These two elements are at the core of their identity and are fundamental cultural values which are passed on to children. All the language biographies presented in the article show the speakers’ multilingualism and the way and time in which they learned subsequent languages. Their acquisition was voluntary on the one hand, but imposed on the other.


The concept of language biography
The subject of the research presented in this article is the multilingualism 1 of Poles born in Bukovina in the 1920s. The study relies on the language biography method, "a research method that is becoming more and more widely used not only in research in the field of language contacts and bilingualism, but also in speech therapy, description and analysis of the Polish language of individual users outside our country, or in the study of the process of developing individual language awareness" (Miodunka, 2016, p. 49;emphasis added). A language biography is to be treated as a collection of facts from a particular person's life related to the ways and conditions of language acquisition, to the use of he language in various settings, and possibly to forgetting the The process of becoming multilingual: Individual language biographies of Poles in Bukovina 2 The concept of heritage language When analysing selected language biographies of Poles in southern and northern Bukovina, one is studying a so-called heritage language, a relatively new term derived from the work of American scholars (cf. Valdés, 1995). Maria Polinsky and Olga Kagan apply the term heritage language to describe the native language of immigrants used in the home environment: they acquire it as a first language but have a limited scope of competence; in contrast, they achieve full competence in their second language, i.e. the language of the country of settlement (Polinsky & Kagan, 2007, p. 368). Polinsky notes that although users of an inherited language foster a cultural and family relationship with their heritage, they usually do not achieve full competence in the chronologically first language (Polinsky, 2015, p. 7).
Ewa Lipińska and Anna Seretny, who introduced this term to Polish scholarship, write as follows: In the Polish nomenclature, the closest equivalent of heritage language is język domowy (home language), i.e. spoken and narrowed to topics related to everyday life, family life, a variation of the ethnic language that is currently used or was used in the past by members of a community as their mother tongue. This concept, however, does not fully reflect the historical, cultural and emotional depth inherent in the word heritage (heritage, tradition, identity), which is why the name język odziedziczony (literally: inherited language, in the sense: descendant, successive) seems to be more adequate, as it combines family values and the richness of national heritage. (Lipińska & Seretny, 2012, p. 21) 2 Lipińska and Seretny note that the term heritage language -with reference to the code used at home and in contacts with loved ones, in an environment in which the official code is a different communication system -gained popularity in the twenty-first century, especially in the United States (Lipińska & Seretny, 2013, p. 2). Writing about Polish, they observe that as a heritage language it is evolving, "as it is taught in Polish schools [abroad] and they strive to ensure that it does not differ from the standard variation of Polish" (Lipińska & Seretny, 2013, p. 3). Another observation they make about the use of the term heritage language is important in view of the topic of this study: "For Poles living abroad, language is a factor of identification and an indigenous value symbolizing their belonging to the culture of their ancestors. It plays an integrating role as one of the basic elements of the characteristics of a given ethnic group and one of the fundamental values of culture that parents should pass on to children" (Lipińska & Seretny, 2013, p. 3).
A heritage language is assimilated naturally through the auditory-oral route. It satisfies basic communication needs in the family sphere, neighbourly contact, and in the sphere of religion; sometimes it is improved at school. According to Lipińska and Seretny, "it also constitutes an important link in communication with the country and national heritage and defines the identity of its users" (Lipińska & Seretny, 2011). In the case of research conducted among Poles in Bukovina, the lexeme dziedzictwo (heritage) clearly reflects the historical, cultural, and especially the emotional and identity connotations that are connected with the ancestral country of our speakers. Bukovinian Poles, who inherited the Polish language from their ancestors, pass it on to future generations in a variety of ways. This is associated with an emotional approach to the language, as well as with identity and religion. A strong sense of being Polish is the main reason for striving to preserve the Polish language, especially in the sphere of prayer and home conversations. In the language biographies presented below, Polish speech developed in isolation from the main body of the Polish language and was surrounded by various Slavic and non-Slavic languages.
2 Anna Żurek, describing the communication strategies of bilinguals based on the example of the Polish language inherited in Germany, points out: "Currently, the issue of heritage language (including Polish) is gaining popularity. In the Polish literature on the subject, the term Polish as an inherited language (heritage language) is still not widely used and clearly defined. In this study, it is understood as 'the language of the country of origin of bilingual representatives of the Polish community, i.e. the first, second and third generation raised in a non-Polish cultural circle' " (Żurek, 2018, p. 12).

Language biographies
The language biography method shows the development process of individual language awareness. The language material for the present study was obtained through interviews conducted several times, participant observation (in the family, at work, at home, in the parish, at meetings of the local community) and the analysis of e-mail documentation and records of respondents. Thus, in order to ensure the objectivity of the results, the study applies triangulation, a strategy whereby more than one technique is used to obtain data on the same speaker (cf. Miodunka, 2016, p. 83). The research was conducted in the years 2015-2020. Material was collected from 30 people (22 women and 8 men) over the age of 60 at the time of the first interview. The language biographies of 3 women (2 residing in northern Bukovina (Ukraine) and 1 residing in southern Bukovina (Romania)) were selected for presentation in this article.
The language biographies of the interviewees presented below are divided into the following age periods: childhood, school age, further/higher education, work and adult life, retirement and the present day. The material used in the article comes from interviews and utterances spoken in unofficial situations, e.g. in personal meetings, in meetings with other speakers, accompanied by participant observation. Before presenting each biography, a brief introduction about the speaker is provided. Each period described by the speaker in authentic language (in semi-orthographic transcription) is followed by comments. Questions from the researcher are quoted in italic; the speakers are referred to using their initials.

The language biography of LN
LN was born to a Polish family in the village of Davydivka (Rom. Davideni), then in Romania, in 1925. Both her parents were Polish, so the home language was Polish. She attended Romanian and Polish schools. As a child, she attended a Polish church, where Mass was said only in Polish; the language of her private prayer was Polish. Her family, with whom she spoke Polish, also lived in Davydivka. The language of everyday conversation was Polish with the Poles, but she also used Romanian and Ukrainian because the village was multi-ethnic. After getting married, she moved to the village of Komarivtsi, where there was no Catholic church or Polish neighbours. The only Polish speaker LN had contact with was her sister-in-law, who lived nearby. As of March 2020, they were the only Polish speakers in the village. After LN got married her home language was Ukrainian: she spoke it to her husband and children. Polish still remained the language of private prayer; she taught her children and grandchildren to pray in Polish. LN was able to read and write in Romanian, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian. Her language can be classified as Bukovinian Polish, which is a continuation of the Polish of south-eastern Kresy with phonetic elements of the dialect of Bukovinian highlanders. LN died in March 2020. CHILDCHOOD 1925-1932 Official language: Romanian Home language: Polish Moi rodzice oni z Polski pochodzom wszystkie. A moja matka przy Austrii. Ona tutaj przyjechała, bo to było nieszczenście, to była wojna, i oni tutaj sie pożenili z ojcem i my tutaj sie, dzieci wszystkie rodzili my tutaj i w domu po polsku wszystko. But you speak Polish very well. Is it from home or school? Z domu, moja matka mówiła, my po polsku, my po polsku mówili w domu. Literatury, literaturny, my nie rozmawiamy tak literaturno po polsku, bo tak, tak rodzice rozmawiali. a uż teraz w Polsce tak że inaczej, literaturno rozmawiajom.

The process of becoming multilingual: Individual language biographies of Poles in Bukovina
Language of prayer Tak to było tylko po polsku, te "Ojcze Nasz" i te wszystkie co w domu mama nas uczyła po polsku. Babcia Barbara też po polsku moliliś. Tak dawno to byli prawdziwi Polaki.

Explication
As a child, the speaker grew up in a Polish family; her first language was Polish, both in everyday life and during prayer. Due to social circumstances, her mother knew German as it was the official language before 1918 in Bukovina. They spoke to their neighbors in their languages, i.e. Polish, Romanian and Ukrainian. Her grandmother made sure that the Polish language and Polishness were present at all times. The speaker is aware that the language spoken at home was not literary Polish.

Explication
The speaker attended a Romanian school where Polish was taught. At school she learned both Romanian and Polish. In the church the language of prayer was also German as the serving priest from Banyliv was German; he said Mass in German and in Polish, alternating the language every Sunday. It was the time of political changes, the eve of World War II, and the official language was about to change.

Explication
The speaker continued her education in Chernivtsi in Russian and Ukrainian. The language of the environment was Russian, and at home she spoke Ukrainian to her husband and children. Polish remained the language of prayer and contact with the immediate family and one neighbour. After getting married, the speaker moved from Davydivka, where many Poles lived, to Komarivtsi, where she had only one Polish neighbour. It is worth noting that most Poles left Davydivka for Poland in 1945-1946, where they settled in the Lubusz region and Lower Silesia. ADULT LIFE 1951-1985 Official language: Russian, Ukrainian Language of marriage Mój starszy syn narodił sie, nazywa sie Ewgien, Niajku Ewgien, piadziestego pierwszego roku sie narodził nam. Krzczony. U ksiedza Krajewskiego. My chodzili do kościoła. My! Jakie my byli komsomolce, pani nie wie. My do kościoła chodzili. Druga moja córka, drugie dziecko moje, Wilhelmina, Wilhelmina, piadziestego piontego roku, trzecie dziecko moje, Ludmiła -sześćdziesiontego roku. Dzieci moje krzczone wszystkie i wszystkie one ślubione. A w domu po ukraińsku już było zawsze. Wszystkie ślub brali, wesele robili. Miał osiemnaście lat, jego przyzwali do armi.

Explication
Communist times also brought about a change in language. Polish schools were closed; Romanian schools were replaced with Russian and Ukrainian ones. After marrying, she moved to another village in which only one neighbour was Polish. The rest of the community were Ukrainians or Romanians speaking the local dialect of Ukrainian, which was used on a daily basis. LN spoke Ukrainian to her husband and children. Sometimes she also spoke Romanian to her husband (e.g. on private matters which they did not wish to reveal to their children).

Explication
Since 1990, there have again been changes in the official language, as well as access to the church. The speaker talks emotionally about introducing Ukrainian as the language of liturgy, although she does not actively participate in religious services due to her age. She listens to Mass in Romanian and would very much like to be able to listen to it and pray in Polish. She speaks Polish and Ukrainian with her daughters and grandchildren. She speaks and reads Romanian to this day. The daughters blame her for not teaching them Romanian.
The speaker is a representative of the oldest generation of Bukovinian Poles. She has a rich language biography, which was influenced by socio-political events, changes of state borders and official languages: Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian. Her rich language biography was also influenced by her place of birth, where she mastered these languages while playing with Ukrainian-and Romanian-speaking children. Polish was her home language, the first one which she inherited from her grandparents and parents. She is very attached to it: she treats it as her own language because she feels Polish. This strong attachment is clearly apparent in her comments on the replacement of Polish in religious services. The influence of Russian and Ukrainian is visible in comments referring to events after 1950, which include words from these languages. Analysing the lexicon used by LN, we can see loan words from Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian.
The speaker uses code switching when she quotes a third party and she wants to present the exact statement of that person. In the narrative about the wedding, LN also uses the lexeme karuca, which comes from the Romanian caruţă meaning 'cart'. She uses this word on purpose, since she describes a situation about which she indicates that everyone in the village rode a karuca to the wedding at the time.
The linguistic repertoire of the 94-year-old speaker is rich; her narrative includes references to the social and historical-political situation related to changes of borders and official languages. The speaker talked very emotionally about events from her life and her language experiences. The first conversation lasted over three hours; the visit of a person from Poland was a great emotional experience: "because I have no one to speak Polish to". An equally emotional request concerned the possibility of listening to Mass in Polish and the availability of the Bible in Polish. Polish plays a symbolic and identifying role in the narrative in question. The speaker kept the Polish language inherited from her parents and grandparents throughout her entire life; she also passed it on to her children and grandchildren: all of them have learned it from her and use it in various situations (e.g. in private prayer). Language of the church, religion Po polsku. Bardzo dobrie. Kolendy, wszystko po polsku. I rodzice jak żyjo, wszystko po polsku. Wszystko po polsku. I kolendy. Wszystko po polsku. Ale, bo na świnta to Boże Narodzynie szli po kolindzie i wszystko po polsku.

Explication
The speaker was born to a Polish-German family in Păltinoasa. Her father spoke German, her mother spoke Polish. Her paternal grandmother was also Polish and spoke Polish. Polish was also the language of private prayer and the language of celebrating annual and family rituals. In church, German prevailed as the language of liturgy and Polish was used in private prayer. The language used during play with other children was German, as there were many Germans living in Păltinoasa before 1940.

Explication
The speaker started learning Romanian at school. At home, she still spoke the Polish dialect of Bukovinian highlanders. She also used German in conversations with her father and immediate family, as well as with her German-speaking neighbours before they left for Germany.

Explication
The speaker married a Polish man from Ples , a and they lived in a Polish-speaking environment for a year. Their home language was the Polish dialect of Bukovinian highlanders and the speaker's children use it to this day. Then the speaker moved with her husband to Păltinoasa, which had changed its ethnic composition: the German population had left for Germany and most of the Poles had left for Poland. At that time, Polish was the home language, but Romanian was used outside more and more often. ADULT LIFE 1953-1987 Official language: Romanian Home language I moje syny już robil , y wojsko. Wszystko. Ale rumuńskie. Po rumuńsku wszystko. Ja. I tata musial , w Rumunii. Ja byl , a w Polsce.

Explication
In adult life, the Romanian language more and more often supplanted Polish in the sphere of neighbourly communication due to the small number of Poles living in the village. However, Polish remained the language of prayer. In contrast, the German language disappeared from all spheres: fewer and fewer people in her surroundings spoke German, since the oldest German speakers died and others left for Germany. The interviewee mentioned that her two sisters had also left with their German husbands for Germany.

Explication
The speaker compares old times to modern times. In the sphere of home communication things have changed: Romanian has replaced Polish, since she has a Romanian daughter-in-law. The son and daughter-in-law who live with the speaker speak Romanian to their children. The speaker has not used German for a long time; when she was asked to say something in German, she admitted that she no longer remembered it and she had no one to speak in that language to. Romanian has also become the language of liturgy.
LB was bilingual as a child: both Polish and German were always present in her family home. She inherited Polish from her mother. The Polish language of the speaker has the characteristics of the subdialect of Bukovinian highlanders, which was discussed in the book Świadectwo zanikającego dziedzictwa. Mowa polska na Bukowinie: Rumunia-Ukraina [A Testimony to a Vanishing Heritage. The Polish Language of Bukovina: Romania-Ukraine] (Krasowska et al., 2018, pp. 84-96). Her mother came from the village of Soloneţu Nou, where all the inhabitants spoke in the subdialect of Bukovinian highlanders. The interviewee also spoke it after getting married, as her husband was from Ples , a, where it was in common use.
The utterances of this multilingual speaker (born in 1927) indicate that she has preserved a good command of spoken dialectal Polish. Although her first languages were Polish and German, she no longer remembers or uses the latter: she has forgotten it due to a lack of communication opportunities. Her narrative does not feature code switching: she uses only single words in Romanian. The speaker does not like the fact that Poles of the younger generation speak Romanian. This mainly applies to her sons and daughters, whose home language is Romanian. The Polish subdialect inherited from her mother distinguishes her from other ethnic communities living in Bukovina and is the main element of her Polish identity.

The language biography of KO
KO was born in 1927 in Zastavna, then in Romania. She spoke Polish at home with her parents. At school she first learned Romanian, then Ukrainian (mainly at work). The speaker got married to a Pole (1947), and Polish has always been their home language. To this day, she only speaks Polish at home with her daughter. The language of her private prayer is Polish. She has a great sense of Polish identity, of which language is the most important element. CHILDHOOD 1927CHILDHOOD -1933 Official language: Romanian Home language Tak, u nas wszystko po polsku, my tylko w domu po polsku rozmawiali. Później my sobie wypisali gazety po polski, można było przez pocztę wypisywać. A tak u nas była przy kościele biblioteka, to my sobie brali ksionżki, coś troszki czytali. A teraz już nie, bo takie lata podeszli i w okularach nie widać nitki.
Language of the place / language of the neighbourly community Przed wojną tu było dużo Polaków i z Polakami rozmawiali my po polsku, no a z Ukraińcami po ukraińsku.

Explication
KO was born to a Polish family in Zastavna; the home language of her mother and father, as well as of her grandparents, was Polish. Her ancestors came from Poland; they moved to Zastavna for economic reasons, as did other families who settled in Bukovina in the early nineteenth century. As a child, the speaker spoke Polish and, as she recalls, went to sing in Romanian in the Orthodox church. It is worth noting that Romanian was the official language in her childhood. Before the war, the Polish cultural movement was teeming with life: Zastavna had a Dom Polski (Polish House) and Czytelnia Polska (Polish Reading Room). The priest taught religion in Polish. The interviewee spoke Ukrainian to her Ukrainian neighbours and Polish to the Polish ones.
Explication KO went to school and studied Romanian for five years. She finished her education in Russian and Ukrainian, which had become official languages as a result of social and political changes. Polish was the language of the family and neighbourly contacts, as well as the language of religion and private prayers. After the Second World War, the number of Polish speakers in Zastavna decreased as most of them left for Poland.
The process of becoming multilingual: Individual language biographies of Poles in Bukovina EDUCATION AND WORK 1946-1953, MARRIAGE (1947

Explication
After the war, KO's adult life revolved around Russian and Ukrainian. She worked in a finance department and then in a pharmacy, so she had to use clients' languages and the languages that were in official use. She spoke Polish to her husband and daughter at home. Her husband also worked in a Ukrainian-speaking environment. In the 1970s they spent over a month in Poland, where they spoke Polish. After the war, Polish life in Zastavna changed. The Catholic church was closed; the Polish House and the Polish Reading Room were closed and ruined. Poles, especially those who attended church, were under surveillance and were threatened. At home, they spoke Polish only quietly to each other; they spoke loudly in Ukrainian, especially in the presence of neighbours.

RETIREMENT AND OLD AGE 1988-2019
Official language: Russian, Ukrainian Reading A tak ni: ksionżki my też, tak troszeczke i z Polskiej sobie przywiezłam i tak.
Language of the church, religion, private prayer. Language of the environment And how do you communicate with the neighbours? In Ukrainian, or have the others learned a bit of Polish? Nie, nie, wszystko po ukraińsku. To nawet kiedy Ruskie Sowiety byli, to i wtedy mówiło się -Dobryj deń. So not even in Russian.

Explication
The 1990s brought about a huge change in the daily life of KO. She still speaks Polish at home with her daughter, but she says that sometimes she can say and express her thoughts faster in Ukrainian. She can no longer remember Romanian, which she learned at school, as she has no one to talk to. Polish became the language of prayer. Polish also occurs in names related to annual rituals: the speaker notes that Ukrainians make kutia for Christmas, and Poles make pszeniczka.
KO inherited the Polish language, i.e. Bukovinian Polish, from her parents and grandparents. She uses it to this day. She speaks Polish only when communicating with her daughter; she prays in Polish and reads religious literature in Polish too. She learned Romanian at school for five years, but she does not remember much of it today: she says that she cannot speak Romanian, although she understands it. After World War II, Russian and Ukrainian were the official languages in the country. The speaker acquired her qualifications in Kyiv in Russian, and the most commonly used language at work was Ukrainian, which prevailed in all spheres, especially after the speaker turned sixty.
The Polish spoken by this informant belongs to Bukovinian Polish, which is a continuation of the Polish of south-eastern Kresy and has all the phonetic and inflectional features of this variety.
In her utterances Ukrainian loan words can be observed, e.g. the sentence: Ja już po menżu bendę pisała się displays a transfer of patterns from Ukrainian to a Polish utterance: Ukrainians say po cholovikovi pyshusia (I use my married name). In the sentence Wiem tylko, że do czytalni my chodzili, the word czytalnia was pronounced in Ukrainian with a Ukrainian accent to mean 'czytelnia' (reading room). Interlingual transfer can also be observed in the sentence Teraz już tym korzystuje się, which means 'it is now used', from Ukr. korystuvatysia tym (to use, utilise sth). Ukrainian is also visibile in the following sentence: Jeszcze jak my przyjechali odnogo razu, to jeszcze my zajszli w te kazarmy, co on służył, gdzie on spał, cf. Ukr. odnoho razu 'jednego razu' (once, one day); zayty v ti kazarmy 'wejść do tych koszar' (to enter the barracks). Ukrainian words used in Polish statements are as follows: wczyłam się 'uczyłam się', Ukr. vchylasia (I learned, studied); po pensji 'na emeryturze', Ukr. na pensiï (on retirement); ostanni 'ostatni' Ukr. ostanniȋ (last, last one). The transfer of patterns is caused by the similarity of the Polish and Ukrainian language systems, which the speaker has used for over a quarter of a century in her environment. Additionally, after 1990, Ukrainian gained prestige and became the sole official language of the state.
The language biography of the speaker developed in a multilingual environment, where the dominant languages were Polish and Ukrainian. The close relationship of these languages en-couraged the borrowing of Ukrainian or Russian words into Polish. There are also examples of the use of Ukrainian syntactic patterns and patterns for combining words, which are very similar in Ukrainian and Polish, the two languages used by the informant on a daily basis.

Conclusions
The linguistic and social development of an individual are interrelated. It is possible to observe turning points or periods in the psychological and social development of an individual: they determine the shape of his/her identity and language behaviour (Głuszkowski, 2011, p. 125). It is worth identifying the common social factors that influenced the multilingualism of the speakers discussed here. The main factors are the historical and political conditions that influenced their language experience. It should be mentioned that the official languages in this area changed: before 1918 it was German, in 1918-1940-Romanian, in 1941-1945  The speakers, born in 1925 (LN) and 1927 (KO and LB) in Romania, have diverse language biographies. Let us start with the immediate environment, i.e. the families in which they were born and the language they began to speak when Romanian was the official language. In all three cases, their home language was a subdialect of Polish; for LB German was a home language alongside Polish, as she was born to a bilingual Polish-German family. The speakers did not know Romanian before they began to learn it at primary school. In the case of LN, Polish was taught for a limited number of hours; KO learned it only in religion classes; LB did not have Polish at school at all. After 1945, LN and KO found themselves in another country (Soviet Ukraine instead of Romania) even though they did not change their place of residence. They continued their education in Russian and Ukrainian, the official languages of their new country.
The language biography of each of the speakers carries an extraordinary cognitive value, bringing in further interesting facts. Namely, that choosing a life partner also involves using a particular language at home. LN started using Ukrainian at home when she got married; KO married a Pole, so her language of communication at home remained Polish, similarly to LB, who lived in Romania and also married a Pole, and her children's home language was a subdialect of Polish. Their language situations were also complex in their adult lives. LN and KO used official languages, i.e. Russian and Ukrainian, while LB used mostly Romanian. As it is today, the situation of the speakers is as follows: LN and KO usually communicate in Ukrainian, and LB -in Romanian; the language situation has also changed in the home sphere: LN usually speaks Ukrainian, and LB speaks Romanian as she lives with the younger generation who are in mixed marriages. There have also been significant changes in the language of prayer: LN switched from Polish to Romanian, she listens to Mass on the radio and prays more and more often in Romanian and Ukrainian; KO attends Mass in Ukrainian, but the language of her private prayer is Polish; LB uses Romanian more and more often in prayers next to Polish. Over the past ninety years, the speakers' language repertoire has been enriched by new languages, and the role of Polish has diminished to only limited contacts in the home environment.
In all three cases the acquisition of further languages has been closely related to political and historical events and the experiences of each life period: school education, the surrounding environment, the choice of a life partner, and communication today with children, grandchildren, and other immediate family. The table below presents the acquisition of languages in various periods of life of the informants; it also includes information on the official language(s) as an important element of political and historical life affecting the place of residence (see Table 1, p. 17).
As can be seen from the above accounts, it is difficult to preserve the linguistic and cultural identity of the individual in mixed-language marriages. For Bukovinian Poles, the Polish language and the Roman Catholic religion are factors of identification and indigenous values symbolizing their belonging to the culture of their ancestors. These two elements are at the core of their identity and are fundamental cultural values that are passed on to children. All the language biographies presented here show the speakers' multilingualism and the way and time in which they learned subsequent languages. Their acquisition was voluntary on the one hand, but imposed on the other. Functionally, the first languages were the official languages: Ukrainian and Russian for LN and KO, and Romanian for LB, acquired due to the change of the language of public administration and school education. LB spoke German as a first language along with Polish but she has forgotten it. KO learned Romanian but she does not speak it today. All three speakers are multilingual to this day; they use particular languages in particular situations, depending on the interlocutor and the setting. Knowledge of different languages also helps them to fill gaps in one code with words and phrases from another. The above examples show the processes of becoming a multilingual person during the life of an individual. They were influenced by microstructural and macrostructural factors: the historical and social situation of the region, place of birth, the place and possibilities of school education, the choice of a life partner, sending their own children to schools, and religious factors pertaining to membership of the Roman Catholic Church, such as the language of private prayer.