Language use and loyalty among the Muslim-Malays of Southern Thailand.
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TextDescription: 511 pSubject(s): Language, Linguistics | Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies | 0290 | 0631Dissertation note: Thesis (Ph.D.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 1988. Summary: The purpose of this study is the investigation of loyalty towards the Malay language among the Muslim-Malays of Southern Thailand, an example of a 'rooted' minority still in some contact with the linguistically and culturally related majority across the border in Malaysia. The study first assesses the degree of language loyalty in terms of the causal relationship between respondents' socio-demographic characteristics and their language-related behavior. Then it compares the degree of language loyalty between two speech communities, Patani and Satun.Summary: A combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques are employed in the study. The quantitative analysis occupies the first phase of the research and deals with the sociological data in order to gain an understanding of the communities. The quantitative data come from a language survey containing interviews with a sample of 1000 respondents, 750 from Patani and 250 from Satun, selected according to relevant socio-demographic variables. Their behavior reported in face-to-face interviews was recorded in the interview schedules which consist of four parts: language background, knowledge, usage, and language attitude. Degree of language loyalty is measured as a combination of these three aspects of language behavior: knowledge, use, and language attitude. A Chi-square test and a gamma evaluation were used to determine the significance and strength of correlations between respondents' socio-demographic and language variables.Summary: Results show a stronger language maintenance and loyalty to Malay among Patani respondents, and indication of shift towards Thai in Satun. A relatively low degree of knowledge and usage of Malay in Satun is, however, somewhat balanced by an extremely favorable attitude towards the Malay language. As borne out by positive correlations between respondents' socio-demographic and language characteristics, rural residence, language use in childhood, parents' language(s), and the level of Islamic-religious education are the major factors which determine the degree of language loyalty.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-05, Section: A, page: 1132.
Major Professor: Wolfgang Wolck.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 1988.
The purpose of this study is the investigation of loyalty towards the Malay language among the Muslim-Malays of Southern Thailand, an example of a 'rooted' minority still in some contact with the linguistically and culturally related majority across the border in Malaysia. The study first assesses the degree of language loyalty in terms of the causal relationship between respondents' socio-demographic characteristics and their language-related behavior. Then it compares the degree of language loyalty between two speech communities, Patani and Satun.
A combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques are employed in the study. The quantitative analysis occupies the first phase of the research and deals with the sociological data in order to gain an understanding of the communities. The quantitative data come from a language survey containing interviews with a sample of 1000 respondents, 750 from Patani and 250 from Satun, selected according to relevant socio-demographic variables. Their behavior reported in face-to-face interviews was recorded in the interview schedules which consist of four parts: language background, knowledge, usage, and language attitude. Degree of language loyalty is measured as a combination of these three aspects of language behavior: knowledge, use, and language attitude. A Chi-square test and a gamma evaluation were used to determine the significance and strength of correlations between respondents' socio-demographic and language variables.
Results show a stronger language maintenance and loyalty to Malay among Patani respondents, and indication of shift towards Thai in Satun. A relatively low degree of knowledge and usage of Malay in Satun is, however, somewhat balanced by an extremely favorable attitude towards the Malay language. As borne out by positive correlations between respondents' socio-demographic and language characteristics, rural residence, language use in childhood, parents' language(s), and the level of Islamic-religious education are the major factors which determine the degree of language loyalty.
School code: 0656.
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