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Siraiki: a Sociolinguistic Study of Language Desertion SIRAIKI: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF LANGUAGE DESERTION Saiqa Imtiaz Asif M. A. (B. Z. U. Multan) M. Sc. In Applied Linguistics (Edinburgh) Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language March 2005 ProQuest Number: 11003560 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003560 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 To Abbi who believed in dedicating life to the pursuit of knowledge and whose happiness was in seeing us pursue knowledge Mama who has always put our education before her comfort and happiness Asif who respects me as a spouse and as an individual Abstract The main focus of this thesis is the phenomenon of Siraiki language maintenance language shift in Multan. This is the first study of its kind carried out on any Pakistani language. The study examines the speech practices of rural and urban Siraiki Multanis in the home domain in the light of various demographic, social, political, and affective factors. It highlights the complex relationship of these factors with regard to change in the language use patterns of the Siraikis. The major sources of data for this study comprise of results from a matched-guise test, recorded speech of Siraikis in the home domain, and interviews. Triangulation of data and methods have been used in this research. The findings suggest that the phenomenon of Siraiki language maintenance/shift is differential in rural and urban Multan and no single factor can be held responsible for any changed or changing speech practices of the Siraikis. The conclusion argues that the attitude of the speakers towards their language is equally important in this process. It also brings to light the inadequacy of both the terminology and the so-called universal models that attempt to account for this complex sociolinguistic phenomenon. This research has educational and social implications and makes a theoretical and methodological contribution to the field of sociolinguistics. It is hoped that it will raise the awareness of Pakistanis in general and Siraikis in particular about the fate and the treatment of their mother tongues by themselves and by the general society. This study also hopes to broaden our understanding of the phenomenon of language maintenance/shift. Acknowledgements First and foremost I would like to pay my humble thanks to Almighty Allah who enabled me to succeed in this endeavour. I felt His presence with me all through this arduous journey. Among my supervisors, I would like to thank my first supervisor Dr Gerry Knowles who taught me the value of independent thinking and who has morally supported me throughout this research. I am grateful for thought-provoking discussions and the confidence he has shown in me. I thank my second supervisor Dr Mark Sebba who patiently guided me through the field of sociolinguistics, a relatively new area for me, and directed my thoughts. With pleasure I extend my sincerest gratitude to Dr Paul Baker, my third supervisor, who taught me by his pen much more than by his tongue. I can never thank him enough for giving me his time and expertise and for all that he has done for me. He will always remain an ideal supervisor for me to emulate. I have profited much from his insightful and constructive comments and fresh stimulating ideas about my work. I am deeply grateful to him for understanding the difficulties that I was going through and for displaying his innate generosity of spirit which helped me overcome many confusions and doubts about the subject. His invaluable comments and feedback render him responsible for whatever clarity this thesis possesses and render me entirely responsible for its faults and shortcomings. Among others in Lancaster University whose support I have been lucky to have, a very special thanks is extended to Dr Hassan Ahmed of Department of Communications Systems, whose moral and practical support I could rely on. I am greatly indebted to him for his kindness. I am thankful to Dr Damon Berridge from the department of Mathematics and Statistics for generously providing advice for the statistical analysis. Among my friends, I am thankful to Dilhari for her help in the statistical analysis, Kiyoko for reading some draft chapters of this thesis and giving invaluable suggestions, and Sara for proofreading the first draft of this thesis and for her support. I am deeply grateful to the families who participated in my research. In the true spirit of Siraiki hospitality, they opened their homes for me and generously gave me endless hours of their time. In return, I can only offer them very humble thanks. I would like to thank my contacts who put me in touch with these families. I would also like to express my gratitude to the interviewees who gave me much of their time. On the financial side, I am grateful to the Commonwealth Commission for funding this research for over three years. My thanks to the Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University, for providing funds to see me through the final two months of this study. I am also thankful to B.Z. University, Multan, Pakistan for granting me study leave to carry out this research. Finally and most importantly, I would like to express my gratitude to my family: my mother-in-law for taking over my responsibilities back at home and looking after my son; my mother for her selfless devotion, prayers, and constant loving support; my brothers and sisters for their unfailing encouragement. An anticipation of my late father’s pride in my eventual achievement enabled me to bear the ups and downs of this taxing academic journey stoically. In no way can I thank Asif for his consistent encouragement, loving support and understanding of my academic career since we got married. He encouraged me to take up this challenge and showed confidence in my abilities. I cannot fully express my appreciation for my daughter Namra and son Shaheer who, without complaining, spent most of the period of this research apart from each other, with a single parent. Namra, who was here with me, kept the window to the real world outside the PhD open for me. I would be eternally grateful to my husband and children for the emotional sacrifice that they have made for me. Transcription Conventions One type of data for this research consists of naturally occurring conversations of Siraikis in the home domain. For reasons of confidentiality, the recordings of these conversations are not being submitted with this research report. These, however, are with me and can be borrowed for research purposes. For the practical purposes of exposition, some extracts from these conversations have been transcribed and included in the main text. The most characteristic feature of the speech of majority of the Siraikis, whose home conversations I have recorded, is a switch between languages. It is, therefore, necessary to make clear which language is being used when they speak. A common practice among linguists is to distinguish the language involved through the choice of transcription conventions. This has been done here through italicization , bold type and plain characters. To facilitate referencing, each cited speech extract and the turns within it are numbered. The English translation is given under each utterance in parenthesis. The home conversations have been translated into a colloquial form of English and in doing so I have tried to avoid the ‘formal stilted translations that characterize so much of ethnographic writing and that generally work to create an impression that non-Western peoples speak in an abstruse and archaic manner’ (Kulick, 1992: xv). In this thesis the following transcription conventions have been adopted to present the home speech. In the speech extracts: • Each turn is numbered for easy reference • The speakers are indicated before presenting each turn • The participants’ utterances are transliterated in conventional English spellings • Urdu is presented in plain characters • Siraiki in bold type • English in italics • Translation of each utterance into English is given after each turn The alphabetic correspondence between Siraiki and Urdu, and Roman symbols is being given below: Siraiki Roman Siraiki Roman Siraiki Roms Vowels: 1 5 1 a, aa i, ii u, uu ei,e ,ay j' O, 00 k— ai <£_ ' ae J ' au J ' ao \ Consonants: UJ b < P t * t s c j 5 ch C h t kh JS d is d j z J r j r J z * s o* sh U-a s z t Ja z t a i g h f .s lS i3 q k g J 1 m U n i j. o nr u n J V A 5 b h y The transliteration of certain Urdu and Siraiki words is different from the standard form because I have tried to be as true as possible to how that word is uttered by the speaker. 1 This sound is peculiar to Siraiki. Table of Contents Abstract Acknowledgements Transcription Conventions Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures List of Maps Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 General Background to Study 2 1.3 Motivations for the Study 4 1.4 The Terminology of Language Decline 6 1.5 Language Maintenance and Language Shift 10 1.5.1 The Investigation and Prediction of Language Shift 14 1.5.1 .i Perceived Benefit Model of Language Shift 15 1.5.
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