scholarly journals How much does parental language behaviour reflect their language beliefs in language maintenance?

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanjiang Yu
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Know How ◽  
Migrant Families

It has been widely accepted that parental language beliefs play a crucial role in language maintenance. Studies show that Chinese immigrants are not exempted from language shift although they are frequently reported cherishing their language as an important part of their culture. This paper attempts to find out how parental language beliefs reflect their daily language behaviour. Eight recent Chinese migrant families had 60 minutes of conversation recorded each month for one calendar year. Their language use has been analyzed and compared with the information gathered from a home language use questionnaire. Results show that there is a substantial gap between parental language beliefs and their actual language behaviour. Although the parents state they strongly support mother tongue maintenance, within 28 months, the use of mother tongue had dropped significantly and there is very little evidence showing much effort from the parents to prevent this from happening. This could be either because they want their children to keep their first language but do not know how to do this, or, their language beliefs are different from their behaviour. This should raise methodological issues regarding how to interpret parental language beliefs properly in the research area.

scholarly journals PEMERTAHANAN BAHASA DAERAH DI KOTA AMBON: STUDI KASUS BAHASA DAERAH DI NEGERI LAHA SEBAGAI SATU-SATUNYA BAHASA DAERAH DI KOTA AMBON [Local Language Maintenance in the city of Ambon: A Local Language Case Studying in the Laha Village as a Local Language only in the City of Ambon]

TOTOBUANG ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-342
Author(s):  
Harlin Turiah
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Local Language ◽  
The City ◽  
Language Mastery

The purpose of this research is to describe local language maintenance in Laha village as the only local language in the City of Ambon. The kind of this research uses quantitative desceiptive. The method of this research is qualitative method where questionnaires were specifically given to 50 respondents that were chosen randomly (random sampling). Beside that, the writer also interviewed some informants and did observation in Laha village and some decent villages in Ambon. The result of this research showed that the condition of local language in Laha village is in danger of extinction. It is shown from local language mastery in society, speakers’ age, first language use, mother tongue, mastery period of local language, and local language acquisition in Laha village. Most speakers of Laha local language can only communicate with little local language of Laha (passive speakers). In terms of age, most of the fluent speakers of local language of Laha are above 50. Those who are under 50 can communicate limitedly, passively understand the language, and even some of them can not communicate using the language at all.   Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan pemertahanan bahasa daerah yang ada di Negeri Laha  (setingkat desa) sebagai satu-satunya bahasa daerah yang ada di Kota Ambon. Jenis penelitian ini menggunakan deskriptif kuantitatif. Metode dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kuantitatif yang secara spesifik responden diberikan kuesioner atau daftar tanyaan dengan jumlah sampel sebanyak 50 orang yang diambil secara acak (random sampling).  Daftar tanyaan penelitian secara umum meliputi situasi dan kondisi bahasa daerah yang ada di Negeri Laha termasuk pemakai dan pemakaiannya. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa sekarang ini, kondisi bahasa daerah yang ada di Negeri Laha Kota Ambon terancam punah. Hal itu terlihat dari penguasaan bahasa daerah dalam masyarakat, usia penutur, bahasa yang digunakan ketika masa kecil (anak-anak), bahasa pertama yang dipelajari, masa penguasaan bahasa daerah, dan pemerolehan bahasa daerah di Negeri Laha. Kemampuan penguasaan berkomunikasi dalam bahasa daerah di Negeri Laha lebih banyak hanya bisa berkomunikasi secara sedikit-sedikit daripada bisa berkomunikasi secara aktif. Dari segi usia, kebanyakan yang dapat dan lancar berbahasa daerah Laha rata-rata usia di atas 50 tahun. Untuk usia di bawah usia 50 tahun, kebanyakan dapat berkomunikasi secara sedikit-sedikit, bisa memahami (pasif), dan sebagian pula tidak bisa berkomunikasi sama sekali.Abstrak

scholarly journals A Sociolinguistic Study of the Use of Indian Sign Language

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Nisha Anand
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Deaf Community ◽  
Dominant Society ◽  
Indian Sign Language

This paper discusses the “Language Use” pattern of ISL by the deaf community. This paper aims to understand the vitality of sign language within the community and to foresee whether ISL is likely to be maintained in coming future. As proposed by Boehm (1997:67), “The choices people make in regard to language use reflect trend towards either language maintenance and language shift. To some extent, this reveals the vitality of the language. Fase et al. (1992:6) says that, “It has been commonly found that when the mother tongue of the minority language remains dominant in communication within the ethnic group, it can be said that mother tongue has been maintained.” This survey also deals with the major issue faced by the deaf community in this speech dominant society, which is huge “communication gap” with the majority speaking people of our society.

scholarly journals Language Maintenance and Language Shift among Keralites in Oman

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-327
Author(s):  
Roy P. Veettil ◽  
P.M. Binu ◽  
J. Karthikeyan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Organizations ◽  
The Cost

This study explores the current status of language maintenance (LM) and language shift (LS) among Keralites, popularly known as ‘Malayalees,’ living in Oman. It analyses the leading factors that affect language maintenance and language shift: a particular focus is given to identifying the various domains in which language maintenance is facilitated; the attitudes held by the Keralite parents and their children towards their first language (L1), the initiatives taken by parents, religious and cultural organizations; and the role of educational institutions in promoting language maintenance. Data for this study have been gathered from semi-structured interviews and participant observation of Keralites who have lived in Oman for more than ten years. Analysis of the data indicates that while parents value their mother tongue as their first language and take various measures to maintain it, second-generation children are not keenly attached to L1. Instead, their first language oracy is strikingly marked with code-switching and code shifting, and their writing skills in L1 are diminishing. Refuting the previous findings, the present study reveals that language shift is a temporary phenomenon, and it does not take place at the cost of L1. On the contrary, various factors contribute to the maintenance of their heritage language. Also, the migrant Keralites, as a result of their living abroad, acquire two or three more new languages: English, Hindi, and Arabic depending on their study and work domains, thereby making them a multilingual society. Language shift can gradually result in linguicide, which can have various effects such as alienation from and the loss of culture and cultural values. It is expected that this study will unveil if there is a language shift of a severe nature among the Keratitis in Oman.

scholarly journals Language Maintenance and Language Shift among Keralites in Oman

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy P. Veettil ◽  
P.M. Binu ◽  
J. Karthikeyan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Organizations ◽  
The Cost

This study explores the current status of language maintenance (LM) and language shift (LS) among Keralites, popularly known as ‘Malayalees,’ living in Oman. It analyses the leading factors that affect language maintenance and language shift: a particular focus is given to identifying the various domains in which language maintenance is facilitated; the attitudes held by the Keralite parents and their children towards their first language (L1), the initiatives taken by parents, religious and cultural organizations; and the role of educational institutions in promoting language maintenance. Data for this study have been gathered from semi-structured interviews and participant observation of Keralites who have lived in Oman for more than ten years. Analysis of the data indicates that while parents value their mother tongue as their first language and take various measures to maintain it, second-generation children are not keenly attached to L1. Instead, their first language oracy is strikingly marked with code-switching and code shifting, and their writing skills in L1 are diminishing. Refuting the previous findings, the present study reveals that language shift is a temporary phenomenon, and it does not take place at the cost of L1. On the contrary, various factors contribute to the maintenance of their heritage language. Also, the migrant Keralites, as a result of their living abroad, acquire two or three more new languages: English, Hindi, and Arabic depending on their study and work domains, thereby making them a multilingual society. Language shift can gradually result in linguicide, which can have various effects such as alienation from and the loss of culture and cultural values. It is expected that this study will unveil if there is a language shift of a severe nature among the Keratitis in Oman.

Language Use and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Policy-Makers and Educators in Northeast Vietnamese Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130
Author(s):  
Ha Ngan Ngo ◽  
Maya Khemlani David
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
The Status ◽  
Wedding Songs

Vietnam represents a country with 54 ethnic groups; however, the majority (88%) of the population are of Vietnamese heritage. Some of the other ethnic groups such as Tay, Thai, Muong, Hoa, Khmer, and Nung have a population of around 1 million each, while the Brau, Roman, and Odu consist only of a hundred people each. Living in northern Vietnam, close to the Chinese border (see Figure 1), the Tay people speak a language of the    Central    Tai language group called Though, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di. Tay remains one of 10 ethnic languages used by 1 million speakers (Buoi, 2003). The Tày ethnic group has a rich culture of wedding songs, poems, dance, and music and celebrate various festivals. Wet rice cultivation, canal digging and grain threshing on wooden racks are part of the Tày traditions. Their villages situated near the foothills often bear the names of nearby mountains, rivers, or fields. This study discusses the status and role of the Tày language in Northeast Vietnam. It discusses factors, which have affected the habitual use of the Tay language, the connection between language shift and development and provides a model for the sustainability and promotion of minority languages. It remains fundamentally imperative to strengthen and to foster positive attitudes of the community towards the Tày language. Tày’s young people must be enlightened to the reality their Tày non-usage could render their mother tongue defunct, which means their history stands to be lost.

Language maintenance and language shift

1998 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Rubino ◽  
Camilla Bettoni
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
The Impact

Patterns of language use by Sicilians and Venetians living in Sydney are here presented with particular attention to the maintenance of Italian and Dialect under the impact of widespread shift to English. Data gathered by questionnaire self-reporting are analysed according to four main variables: domain, linguistic generation, gender and region of origin. Results suggest that the original Italian diglossia between the High and the Low languages is well maintained, as Italian occupies the more public, formal and regionally heterogeneous space in the community, and Dialect the more private, informal and homogeneous one. Among the subjects’ variables, generation predictably accounts for the greatest variation, as both languages are used most by the first generation and least by the second. However, the original diglossia holds well also among the second generation. With regard to gender and region of origin, it would seem that, compared to men, women maintain both languages slightly better, and that, compared to men and Sicilians respectively, both women and Venetians maintain slightly better the original diglossia. We conclude that the position of Italian, although more limited, seems somewhat more solid than that of Dialect, and suggest some reasons for it.

scholarly journals Living in several languages: Language, gender and identities

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Burck
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Research Interviews

Living in several languages encompasses experiencing and constructing oneself differently in each language. The research study on which this article is based takes an intersectional approach to explore insider accounts of the place of language speaking in individuals’ constructions of self, family relationships and the wider context. Twenty-four research interviews and five published autobiographies were analysed using grounded theory, narrative and discursive analysis. A major finding was that learning a new language inducted individuals into somewhat ‘stereotyped’ gendered discourses and power relations within the new language, while also enabling them to view themselves differently in the context of their first language. This embodied process could be challenging and often required reflection and discursive work to negotiate the dissimilarities, discontinuities and contradictions between languages and cultures. However, the participants generally claimed that their linguistic multiplicity generated creativity. Women and men used their language differences differently to ‘perform their gender’. This was particularly evident in language use within families, which involved gendered differences in the choice of language for parenting – despite the fact that both men and women experience their first languages as conveying intimacy in their relationships with their children. The article argues that the notion of ‘mother tongue’ (rather than ‘first language’) is unhelpful in this process as well as in considering the implications of living in several languages for systemic therapy.

scholarly journals Limba Maternă

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 51-57
Author(s):  
Adriana Oniță
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Creative Arts ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
The Right ◽  
Language Spoken At Home

This creative arts-based inquiry explores an individual case of Mother Language shift and loss through poems and paintings. Language shift is often defined in the Canadian context as the process whereby “individuals abandon their native language as the principal language spoken at home and adopt another” (Sabourin & Bélanger, 2015, p. 727). But is abandon the right verb? And what about adopt? A abandona inseamnă ca ai avut o alegere de făcut. A adopta also means you had a choice and you consciously made it. What if your limba maternă hid in your body, s-a ascuns, out of fear? And what if it still lives inside of you at the cellular level, in your body’s home, adânc, aşteptând momentul potrivit to resurface? These poems and paintings explore the feelings of home as mother tongue, and the effects on identity of gradually losing a first language.

A Chinese Australian family’s language use and attitudes

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-66
Author(s):  
Bo Hu
Keyword(s):  
Family Communication ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Family Language

Abstract This paper presents a qualitative case study of a Chinese Australian family’s multilingual experiences in Melbourne. Couched in the framework of family language policy, I examine language shift patterns and mother tongue attitudes and analyse reasons and consequences. The findings show that the first generation uses Mandarin for general family communication, while relegating regional Chinese to functions that are, typically, private and familial and for use with older generations. The second generation uses English the most. While their Mandarin use is enhanced through community-based schooling and can be activated depending on the communicative environment, regional Chinese does not play an active role. This nested, hierarchical ecology of language shift with two dominant language constellations causes parental confusion about the children’s mother tongue and problematises grandparent-grandchild communication with a possible decrease of family intimacy.

The Maintainability of Acehnese by Its Speakers at the Eastern Coast of Serdang Bedagai

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hadi Sahputra ◽  
Busmin Gurning ◽  
Syahron Lubis
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Key Words Attitudes

This qualitative study is designed to find the Acehnese speakers’ attitude in maintaining Acehnese at the eastern coast of Serdang Bedagai Regency. The subjects are thirty intra-marriage Acehnese speakers living long time the districts. Questionnaire is used to find out their daily attitude in communicating and to gather the data about what language they use in the communications and interaction with their husband or wife, children, brothers and sisters, neighbors, and colleagues. Interview is used to find out the positive and negative attitude. These attitudes are influenced by some factors which are analyzed and can be maintained Acehnese at the eastern coast of Serdang Bedagai Regency, living in Acehnese multi-ethnics, use Acehnese in their family every day, and having pride of their own language, use Acehnese to their neighbors and their colleagues. Currently, the existence of Acehnese is the speakers of Acehnese are at the level of safe but in their children or their generation is at the level of unsafe and it leads to the language shift to a dominant language, that is, Indonesian language as well as Malay language and Javanese language or other local language which are the major population, which dominate the use of vernacular. This is due to the weaknesses of vernacular speakers or the loss of belonging to their own language. Key words: attitudes, language maintenance, language shift, maintainability, vernaculars

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