Cover Image

Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah

Language shift for multiethnic speech communities may result in the mother tongue being no longer spoken within the community itself. The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of intergenerational shift in language use within the Kadazandusun families. The aims of this study are to find...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Esther, Jawing
Format: Final Year Project Report
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2006
Subjects:
H Social Sciences (General)
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/7485/1/Esther%20Jawing%20ft.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/7485/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id my.unimas.ir.7485
record_format eprints
spelling my.unimas.ir.74852023-08-09T06:24:19Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/7485/ Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah Esther, Jawing H Social Sciences (General) Language shift for multiethnic speech communities may result in the mother tongue being no longer spoken within the community itself. The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of intergenerational shift in language use within the Kadazandusun families. The aims of this study are to find out the language(s) used by different generations of speakers and for what purpose(s) the language(s) is/are used, the factors that motivate certain language choice that leads to language shift and finally, to examine the use of Kadazandusun language in relation to the value of ethnic identity. This study is a case study of five Kadazandusun families where general observation has shown the rapid use of another language in family domain. The methodology employed is one of interview and participant observation to study the social phenomenon from the participants' perspectives. The results show that only the first and second generations speak Kadazandusun as their mother tongue whereas almost all of the third and fourth generations speak Sabah Local Malay and/or English as their mother tongue. Sabah Local Malay and/or English have taken over some of the communicative functions of Kadazandusun in the family domain. Secondly, the extent to which individuals in the speech community have changed their habitual language use varies considerably according to a range of factors such as education, intermarriage, prestige, relocation and language contact. These factors accelerate the shift from the use of Kadazandusun language to other languages. Finally, a majority ofthe younger respondents (Generation 2 and 3) under study value the importance of Kadazandusun language as the marker oftheir ethnic identity. The findings are applicable to the context of this case and other contexts that are similar to the setting ofthe study. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2006 Final Year Project Report NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/7485/1/Esther%20Jawing%20ft.pdf Esther, Jawing (2006) Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah. [Final Year Project Report] (Unpublished)
institution Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building Centre for Academic Information Services (CAIS)
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
content_source UNIMAS Institutional Repository
url_provider http://ir.unimas.my/
language English
topic H Social Sciences (General)
spellingShingle H Social Sciences (General)
Esther, Jawing
Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah
description Language shift for multiethnic speech communities may result in the mother tongue being no longer spoken within the community itself. The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of intergenerational shift in language use within the Kadazandusun families. The aims of this study are to find out the language(s) used by different generations of speakers and for what purpose(s) the language(s) is/are used, the factors that motivate certain language choice that leads to language shift and finally, to examine the use of Kadazandusun language in relation to the value of ethnic identity. This study is a case study of five Kadazandusun families where general observation has shown the rapid use of another language in family domain. The methodology employed is one of interview and participant observation to study the social phenomenon from the participants' perspectives. The results show that only the first and second generations speak Kadazandusun as their mother tongue whereas almost all of the third and fourth generations speak Sabah Local Malay and/or English as their mother tongue. Sabah Local Malay and/or English have taken over some of the communicative functions of Kadazandusun in the family domain. Secondly, the extent to which individuals in the speech community have changed their habitual language use varies considerably according to a range of factors such as education, intermarriage, prestige, relocation and language contact. These factors accelerate the shift from the use of Kadazandusun language to other languages. Finally, a majority ofthe younger respondents (Generation 2 and 3) under study value the importance of Kadazandusun language as the marker oftheir ethnic identity. The findings are applicable to the context of this case and other contexts that are similar to the setting ofthe study.
format Final Year Project Report
author Esther, Jawing
author_facet Esther, Jawing
author_sort Esther, Jawing
title Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah
title_short Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah
title_full Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah
title_fullStr Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah
title_full_unstemmed Language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of Kadazandusun families in Sabah
title_sort language shift in a majority ethnolinguistic speech group : a case study of kadazandusun families in sabah
publisher Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS
publishDate 2006
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/7485/1/Esther%20Jawing%20ft.pdf
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/7485/
_version_ 1775627169899216896
score 13.211869

Similar Items