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English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora

Diasporic Indian languages in Malaysia are unique and distinguishable from their native variants. Past studies have indicated that dominant languages tend to overpower minority languages in multilingual communities, hence causing languages to shift. The aims of this study are to identify the languag...

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Main Authors: Krishnan, M. Raadha, Sharmini, Sharon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor and Francis 2021
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97084/1/English%20language%20use%20of%20the%20Malaysian%20Tamil%20.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97084/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01434632.2021.2020800?journalCode=rmmm20
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spelling my.upm.eprints.970842022-10-17T07:58:23Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97084/ English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora Krishnan, M. Raadha Sharmini, Sharon Diasporic Indian languages in Malaysia are unique and distinguishable from their native variants. Past studies have indicated that dominant languages tend to overpower minority languages in multilingual communities, hence causing languages to shift. The aims of this study are to identify the language choices of Malaysian Tamils and to what extent does English influence their shift from their native language. The respondents were 30 Malaysian Indians. The findings of the study revealed that in the family domain, there was an alarming shift to English when participants spoke to their children (93%) and their spouses (63%) as opposed to the older generations. Meanwhile, in the friendship domain, 76% of the participants preferred using English when they had to speak to other Malaysian Tamils. As for strangers, there was a 50–50 distribution between English and Malay between these participants. These findings seem to show that most families shifted from their native language to English among children in the family domain, education domain and friendship domain. Therefore, it is possible to note that factors such as imperialism, economic status and relevance of usage in language domains are the driving factors behind the shift of Tamil to English in Malaysia. Taylor and Francis 2021 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97084/1/English%20language%20use%20of%20the%20Malaysian%20Tamil%20.pdf Krishnan, M. Raadha and Sharmini, Sharon (2021) English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. pp. 1-14. ISSN 0143-4632 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01434632.2021.2020800?journalCode=rmmm20 10.1080/01434632.2021.2020800
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description Diasporic Indian languages in Malaysia are unique and distinguishable from their native variants. Past studies have indicated that dominant languages tend to overpower minority languages in multilingual communities, hence causing languages to shift. The aims of this study are to identify the language choices of Malaysian Tamils and to what extent does English influence their shift from their native language. The respondents were 30 Malaysian Indians. The findings of the study revealed that in the family domain, there was an alarming shift to English when participants spoke to their children (93%) and their spouses (63%) as opposed to the older generations. Meanwhile, in the friendship domain, 76% of the participants preferred using English when they had to speak to other Malaysian Tamils. As for strangers, there was a 50–50 distribution between English and Malay between these participants. These findings seem to show that most families shifted from their native language to English among children in the family domain, education domain and friendship domain. Therefore, it is possible to note that factors such as imperialism, economic status and relevance of usage in language domains are the driving factors behind the shift of Tamil to English in Malaysia.
format Article
author Krishnan, M. Raadha
Sharmini, Sharon
spellingShingle Krishnan, M. Raadha
Sharmini, Sharon
English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora
author_facet Krishnan, M. Raadha
Sharmini, Sharon
author_sort Krishnan, M. Raadha
title English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora
title_short English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora
title_full English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora
title_fullStr English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora
title_full_unstemmed English language use of the Malaysian Tamil diaspora
title_sort english language use of the malaysian tamil diaspora
publisher Taylor and Francis
publishDate 2021
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97084/1/English%20language%20use%20of%20the%20Malaysian%20Tamil%20.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97084/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01434632.2021.2020800?journalCode=rmmm20
_version_ 1748704641459159040
score 13.211869

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