Date of Award

1-1-2000

Thesis Type

Masters

Document Type

Thesis

Divisions

Faculty of Languages and Linguistics

Department

-

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

This study examines language maintenance and shift among the Portuguese Eurasians living in the Portuguese Settlement in Malacca. Firstly, this study focuses on the use of Kristang in seven domains: work/school, transaction, family, neighbourhood, friendship, entertainment and prayer. Secondly, it investigates the attitude of the subjects towards Kristang, English end Malay. The instrument used in conducting this study is a forty-two item questionnaire administered on sixty-four respondents based on the variables of age, gender and socioeconomic status. The findings indicate that the use of Kristang among the community members is decreasing in almost all the domains studied. The findings also reveal that in place of Kristang, English is fast becoming the dominant language among the younger generation community members. However, among the youngest age group (aged 12 to 19), it is discovered that Kristang is still actively used, especially among the male subjects in their intragroup peer interaction. It is also noted that there is promise of the survival of Kristang within the family domain as this same group also communicates with their grandparents in Kristang. In the final analysis, the survival of the Kristang language will eventually depend on the community's concern for their beautiful language and its significance to their ethnic identity against the pragmatic reasons for social and economic upward mobility, the latter of which may certainly promote language shift.

Initial

snms

Additional Information

Dissertation (M.A) -- Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, 2000.

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