A Study On Language Choice Of Uygur Urban Residents In Urumqi

Since 1960s, language choice is a hot discussed sociolinguistic phenomenon, which has been analyzed by a great number of investigators from a wide range of disciplines with diverse approaches and perspectives. In Xinjiang, it is commonly seen that Uygur people switch Uygur to Han Chinese or Uygur mixed with Chinese during their conversation. The other fact is that people will choose different code with different interlocutors in different settings. In most situations, people's language choice reflects complex and subtle social psychology. Their language choices are part of the social identity they claim for themselves.The present study aims to find Urumqi Uygur urban residents'language choice and how social factors affect their language choice in different domains with different interlocutors. Based on the theories proposed by previous scholars, the present study integrates both questionnaire and interview to investigate 2480 Urumqi Uygur urban residents coming from seven districts. The questionnaire adopted in this study is composed of three parts, with 48 items. The close-end questionnaire is designed based on Xu (2004)'s questionnaire. The questionnaire survey begins in April 2008 and completes in March 2009. All the questionnaire data are input and processed through the Statistical Package for Science (SPSS 13.0).The main findings of this thesis are as follows: 1) The members of this ethnic group are orienting themselves to the improvement of their oral ability in Chinese while trying to maintain their mother tongue ability.; this also reflects that bilingual education in Urumqi matures gradually. 2) The Uygur language is still the dominant language among Uygur people, but Chinese used in their daily communication; on the whole, their language choice in different domains are quite similar, but the proportions of the Uygur and Chinese are different. With an increase in the degree of intimacy or familiarity there appears a preference for the Uygur, otherwise there is a preference for the bilingual use of the Uygur and Chinese language. 3) Uygur, Uygur mixed with Chinese and Chinese are found to have different patterns of social differentiations. Uygur and Uygur mixed with Chinese are about equal in the complexity of social differentiation. Chinese is a lesser extent but not dramatically different.To sum up, this research is also a useful case study of the language contact and variations with its significance in the bilingual education for the Uygurs.