VITALITY OF MOTHER TONGUE LANGUAGES AMONG PENAN AND CHINESE COMMUNITIES IN SARAWAK

• Main Author: LAW, SUZANNE TZE XIEN
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak(UNIMAS) 2018
• Subjects: BF Psychology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/30957/1/Suzanne%20Law%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/30957/

This qualitative case study investigates the status oftile use of mother tongue languages among two communities in Sarawak, namely the Urban Chinese of Kuching cily and remote Penans of Upper Baram. The gcncr.I! objective of this ~tudy is to idcntii); the current vitality of languages, to determine the causes lor language change and to ideotify the patterns of usage aUlOlIl;; Chines<: and Penan communities. The Expanded Graded Intergenerdlionai Di,ruptiou Scales (EGlDS) which was proposed by Lewis and Simons (2010) is used to det~rmine Ihe current itality levels of the languages used by both communities. Semi-structured interviews and He ld observations were used to identity the status oflanguage vita lity, causes for language change and language preferences for both commun ities. Findings reveal that each level of vitality status tor the mother tongue languages among Ch inese and renan communities arc determined by the domains of languages used for each community. The causes for language cbange include thc influence from the Il.3tional educational system (for the Penans) and the societal movements tfor the Chinese). The study also showed b61h communities regard Bahasa Malaysia and English language highly. but at different degrees. The Chinese community teoded to prefer the acquisition of Mandarin language, as a necessity to progress in socio-economic and institutional advancements; the Penans prererred Malay language as it i~ widely used in educaltion and mass mcdja, as these are the key sources oflanguage learning tor them living in a remote rural location in north Sarawak.