| China is a multi-ethnic country and only in Yunnan Province there are25officially recognized ethnic groups. The Dai ethnic group is one of25ethnic groups.Although the Dai people live in a large geographical area in Yunnan province, thefocus of the study is only in Mengla County in Xishuangbanna Dai AutonomousPrefecture, where language contact between Chinese and the Dai ethnic languagetakes place more frequently than in any other place. Language maintenance, languageplanning and ethnic identity have become a hot issue in the field of applied linguisticresearch, and among which, there must be a certain discussion about the preservationof ethnic languages. This study was undertaken to find out:1) How do Dai people inMengla County value themselves and their ethnic language? Is there any differenceamong the three generations?2) What is the preference of Dai people’s language use?Is the Dai ethnic language well preserved? Is there any difference among the threegenerations and what are the reasons? As the underlying aim of the study is toinvestigate Dai people’s ethnic identity and ethnic language maintenance, the studyuses both qualitative and quantitative methods which involve a questionnaire,observation and interviews. The subject of the study is120Dai people falling intothree age groups representing three generations. The result shows that in general, mostof the participants highly valued themselves. But the three generations of theparticipants have different attitudes toward their ethnic language, the older thegeneration is, and the greater value they attach to their ethnic language. The Daiethnic language is maintained to a large extent in different domains. The fact is thatthe younger the generation is, and the more preference is given to Chinese. It is hopedthat the study may help ethnic groups to realize that participation in the dominantsociety and preservation of their ethnic language are both important. |
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