Dr. Farida Yasmin Panhwar,
Institute of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan
The structure of a society is based on language. It is impossible to accumulate a history of any language by cutting it off from its relationship with actual speakers and their social world. The great research works in language and linguistics (such as Chomsky) are considered illusory and deficient because they investigate language in isolation and overlook the social aspects of the language learning process. As a result, sociolinguistics scholars study language in relation to individuals and their social circles. It is a social network that encourages or discourages the use of a particular language. Consequently, the behaviour of a society is responsible for maintaining or shifting a language. Applying the Social Network Theory, the current paper presents the findings of a linguistic investigation conducted on Sindhi-speaking families who are settled in the multilingual city of Karachi, Pakistan, where Urdu is the language of daily interaction among various language communities and English is used in official and academic domains. The paper explores how far the social network is responsible for the language shift from Sindhi to Urdu and English. According to the findings, those with strong ties to their social networks have a higher ratio of language maintenance and a lower level of language shift than those with weaker ties to their social networks, who have a higher ratio of language shift. The current research also demonstrates that some variables, such as generation, age, social and financial status, etc., also act as contributing factors in the process of language shift.
Keywords: Social Network Theory, Language Shift, Language Maintenance, Language Community
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The Eighth International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature (WWW.LLLD.IR), 14-15 February 2023, Ahwaz.
