Language attitudes of the T’rung

• Main Author: Perlin, Ross
• Other Authors: Leiden University
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities; Tibeto-Burman; T’rung
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177734
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper describes a research project on the language attitudes of the T’rung (Dulong) people of southwest China, speakers of a Tibeto-Burman language fast becoming endangered. A total of 48 T’rung residents of two villages were interviewed for their opinions on the use and importance of T’rung, Lisu, and Chinese in one of China’s most multilingual regions. The results show unanimity about the importance of Chinese in all aspects of life, although few T’rung speak the language well and it is a relative newcomer to the region. Attitudes towards T’rung are complex, with some in the community viewing it as a language of solidarity even as it retreats from spheres of everyday use, while others bemoan its irrelevance in the changed circumstrances of modern life. Women and those over 50 years old feel particular ambivalence about T’rung, instead valorizing Lisu, a regional lingua franca. T’rung youth feel pride in the language as a marker of ethnic identity but appear to be uncertain about the language’s future and in what spheres they should promote its use.