Comparison Of Language Use Patterns And Language Attitudes Between Chinese-Uyghur Bilinguals And Uyghur-Chinese Bilinguals In Xinjiang

Language contact and language use between Chinese and Uyghur have beendone among researchers at home and abroad in recent years. Few surveys have beendone extensively on comparison of language use patterns and language attitudes ofChinese-Uyghur bilinguals and Uyghur-Chinese bilinguals in Xinjiang.The present study aims to make a comparison of the language use patterns andlanguage attitudes of Chinese and Uyghur language between Chinese-Uyghurbilinguals and Uyghur-Chinese bilinguals in Xinjiang, further analyzes the possibleinfluential factors. The study receives self-reporting questionnaires from3275Chinese people and3198Uyghur people, then makes a comparison on429Chinese-Uyghur bilinguals and2901Uyghur-Chinese bilinguals, and analyzes thepossible influential factors. Interviews are given to21Chinese-Uyghur bilingualsand20Uyghur-Chinese bilinguals to further prove the result of questionnaire.Questionnaires used in the study are revised on the basis of Thomas and Robert（2011）, Baker (1992). Data in the study are put into SPSS (17.0) for statisticanalysis (frequency analysis, Pearson chi-square test and linear regression),qualitative analysis are further carried out on possible influencing factors such asgender, residential environment, types of bilinguals, bilingual education andbilingual education policies.The major findings of the study are:1) Both groups prefer L1in every domainto L2and L1L2. This result is similar to formal studies.2) Different types in bothgroups (normal Chinese class, minority language class, bilingual class HKM; MKM,MKH, bilingual class and HKM) show different language use tendencies in differentdomains.3) Both groups show social identity to L1and L1culture; both of themshow positive attitudes towards L2and L2culture.4) Factors influencing thelanguage use patterns between the two groups include gender, social environment,types of bilinguals, bilingual education and bilingual education policies.The present study might offers a profitable theoretical case study to theresearches on language contact at home；it might help to know and understandobjectively the relationship among ethnics and the situation of culturalcommunication in Xinjiang in profile; it is hoped to add a case study to the researchof language use and bilingual education system in Xinjiang.