The Effect Of Parental Attitudes Towards The Functional Diglossia In Xi’an Downtown

This study examines parents’ attitudes towards their language use of Guanzhong dialect(the regional dialect) and Putonghua(the standard Chinese) under the diglossic condition in Xi’an downtown. Language attitudes research is implemented via the investigation of the three components, i.e. cognitive, affective and behavioral attitudes. The study is conducted by questionnaires as well as interviews among two parent groups born in 1960 s and 1980 s. 82 parents took the Likert-scale questionnaire investigation, and 33 out of the 82 received the interview to express their ideas on the research topic. Applying the variables of age, gender, education and profession, parents’ attitudes towards the two varieties and the interrelationships in their language attitudes, language use, language education and the protection of regional dialect are accessed under four research questions. The following results were found:(1) parents’ language attitudes seem not to greatly influence their view of the children’s language proficiency,(2) people’s language use affects their attitudes in language education,(3) people do not consider it necessary to take measures to protect regional dialect, and(4) there is a difference between the two parent groups in their attitudes towards the use of two language varieties. The significance of this study lies in arousing people’s awareness of protecting regional dialect as a part of cultural heritage.