LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 10 October 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIAL

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2012
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

Language Shift The Case of Punjabi in Sargodha Region of Pakistan

Barirah Nazir
Umair Aftab
Ammara Saeed

Abstract

This paper examines the linguistic scenario of Punjabi (second major language in Pakistan after Urdu) in Sargodha and the social mechanism which poses threat to the sustainability of Punjabi on a broader scale. It deals with the attitudes, causes and effects of the language shift from Punjabi to other languages due to prestige, modernity and social mobility issues. Triangulation (Questionnaires from n=80 and In-depth interviews from n=3) was used in order to observe the trends of shift. The findings exhibit that Punjabi speakers are not so loyal to their language, Punjabi language shift is a real not perceived phenomenon and a day may not be far away when Punjabi will be considered endangered language in Pakistan.

Key Words: Punjabi, Language Shift, Language Loyalty

1. Introduction

Weinreich (1953) defines language shift as “the change from habitual use of one language to another” and argued that even sociological aspects of the process should be studied as well. Language shift is a long process influenced by plethora of factors more of which are sociological in nature. (Swadesh, 1948) Language shift is mostly a slow and gradual process in which cultural and linguistic attitude of a group of people counts a lot in changing stable linguistic situation to the favor of one or more governing languages (Falk-Bano, 1986). The term ‘Punjabi Language Shift’ as we are using it does not denote to the absolute migration of Punjabi language speakers to other languages but most often it is shift in domains of language use with particular set practices.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Barirah Nazir
Lecturer
Department of English, University of Sargodha
barirahn@yahoo.com

Umair Aftab, BS
Department of English, University of Sargodha
ommypak@live.co.uk

Ammara Saeed, BS
Department of English, University of Sargodha
amaarasaeed@live.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.