Exploring the language shift of secondary Yi students in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, Sichuan, China.

This paper adopts a mixed research method to explore the language shift of secondary Yi students in Liangshan through their language choices and motivations in different discursive contexts. Yi students in this study provides a unique setting to examine language shift in languages and dialects at the same time, as they speak an ethnic minority mother tongue (Nuosu Yi), a local dialect of Mandarin (Southwestern Mandarin), and Mandarin in their daily interactions. Likert-type responses about language use in the context of Family, Friend, and Society were elicited from 353 students through questionnaires, followed by 23 interviews which explored the motivations behind the language choices. Findings revealed that although Nuosu Yi remained a prevalent language in Yi students’ daily life, its use was primarily limited to private conversations with friends and family members. In addition, there was an evident increased use of Mandarin in Yi students’ peer communication compared to intergenerational conversations, which can be taken as a sign for language shift. Lastly, Southwestern Mandarin was found to play an important bridging role in Yi students’ daily communication and was endowed by Yi students with both sentimental and instrumental value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]