Attitude and language use pattern of multilingual Malaysians
Multilingualism is not a foreign phenomenon amongst Malaysians as Malaysia is known as a ‘de facto’ multilingual country with Malay, Tamil and Mandarin as the languages spoken by the majority population of Malaysians. However, there are not many studies done to observe this phenomenon in depth in...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Kulliyyah of Languages and Management, International Islamic University Malaysia
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/94963/1/94963_Attitude%20and%20language%20use%20pattern.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/94963/ https://www.iium.edu.my/media/77669/IYSJL%20Vol%204%20%282%29%20December%202021%281%29.pdf |
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| Institution: | Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | Multilingualism is not a foreign phenomenon amongst Malaysians as Malaysia
is known as a ‘de facto’ multilingual country with Malay, Tamil and Mandarin
as the languages spoken by the majority population of Malaysians. However,
there are not many studies done to observe this phenomenon in depth in
Malaysia. The studies that are done to observe the attitude and use of different
languages amongst general Malaysians itself are scarce while in truth, it is
important for the country’s language planning. This study aims to identify the
language attitude and language use pattern of multilingual Malaysians towards
their first, second and third language; and find the correlation between the two
variables. The study of language attitude could help understand the language
status held by respondents. Fishman (1979) believes that multilinguals choose
the languages they speak according to the domains that the conversation is
taking place thus this study would observe the language use pattern of
multilingual Malaysians in five domains: family, friendship, education, religion
and media. A quantitative research method was utilized by distributing online
questionnaires to 100 multilinguals around Malaysia through the messaging
app, WhatsApp. Results of the study indicated that there is a significant
correlation between language attitude and language use pattern towards all three
languages spoken by the respondents. The findings of this study would be
helpful for future research investigating the multilingual phenomenon amongst
Malaysians. It could also benefit language policy makers in encouraging the use
of different languages in Malaysia. |
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