Investigating language maintenance: Social correlates of language choice among the Dehong Dai (China, Burma, Myanmar).
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TextDescription: 251 pISBN: 0493278729Subject(s): Language, Linguistics | Anthropology, Cultural | 0290 | 0326Dissertation note: Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan, 2001. Summary: Mangshi, a multi-ethnic town of about 40,000 near the Burmese border in southwest China, is in transition from an agriculture-based economy to one fueled by recent Chinese tourism, and by increasing transnational economic ties to Southeast Asian countries. These changes are leading Dai villagers living near Mangshi to re-negotiate the place of the Dai and Chinese Languages in their linguistic repertoire. These Dai, who were primarily monolingual in the Dai language a few decades ago, are now primarily bilingual in Dai and Chinese.Summary: In order to examine the prospects for Dai language maintenance versus language shift to Chinese, sociolinguistic and social network interviews were conducted with 32 Dai women and men aged 15 to 78 in four family networks. These family networks crisscross four town/village entities that manifest varying degrees of urbanization and ethnic integration. One of the most striking findings of the research is the robustness of the Dai language.Summary: Statistical analysis of extra-linguistic variables reveals that variation in language choice correlates most strongly with characteristics of individuals' social networks. In contrast, age, which was an excellent explanatory variable in studies that showed language shift (Gal 1978, Li 1995), does not correlate with language choice in this study. Rural-urban orientation, place of residence, and occupation also correlate strongly with language choice.Summary: Two types of qualitative analysis complement the quantitative analysis. The first examines the lives of individuals with unusual language patterns and brings to light additional factors that support language maintenance. The second explores the role of bilingualism in the linguistic repertoire of individual speakers through analysis of conversational data in which speakers mix the Dai and Chinese languages in symbolically and pragmatically meaningful ways.Summary: This paper, in exploring these issues, uses social network and life-modes approaches to link economic and social conditions to patterns of language choice. In the process, it uncovers an ethnographic setting that is not only supportive of Dai language use, but which makes it a requisite part of community membership.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 62-06, Section: A, page: 2090.
Co-Chairs: William H. Baxter, III; Lesley Milroy.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Michigan, 2001.
Mangshi, a multi-ethnic town of about 40,000 near the Burmese border in southwest China, is in transition from an agriculture-based economy to one fueled by recent Chinese tourism, and by increasing transnational economic ties to Southeast Asian countries. These changes are leading Dai villagers living near Mangshi to re-negotiate the place of the Dai and Chinese Languages in their linguistic repertoire. These Dai, who were primarily monolingual in the Dai language a few decades ago, are now primarily bilingual in Dai and Chinese.
In order to examine the prospects for Dai language maintenance versus language shift to Chinese, sociolinguistic and social network interviews were conducted with 32 Dai women and men aged 15 to 78 in four family networks. These family networks crisscross four town/village entities that manifest varying degrees of urbanization and ethnic integration. One of the most striking findings of the research is the robustness of the Dai language.
Statistical analysis of extra-linguistic variables reveals that variation in language choice correlates most strongly with characteristics of individuals' social networks. In contrast, age, which was an excellent explanatory variable in studies that showed language shift (Gal 1978, Li 1995), does not correlate with language choice in this study. Rural-urban orientation, place of residence, and occupation also correlate strongly with language choice.
Two types of qualitative analysis complement the quantitative analysis. The first examines the lives of individuals with unusual language patterns and brings to light additional factors that support language maintenance. The second explores the role of bilingualism in the linguistic repertoire of individual speakers through analysis of conversational data in which speakers mix the Dai and Chinese languages in symbolically and pragmatically meaningful ways.
This paper, in exploring these issues, uses social network and life-modes approaches to link economic and social conditions to patterns of language choice. In the process, it uncovers an ethnographic setting that is not only supportive of Dai language use, but which makes it a requisite part of community membership.
School code: 0127.
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