Language Conflicts

Introduction:
Researchers who study language and culture are interested in how languages change and how people
work to maintain their languages. This topic is important because it affects how people communicate
and how communities preserve their identities. Language shift happens when a community starts using
a new language and stops using their old one, which can change the way they speak and affect their
culture. Language maintenance happens when people try to preserve their language and culture. These
two processes are connected and complex, and researchers want to understand what causes language
shift and maintenance, who is involved, and how they affect language and culture. The process of
language shift and maintenance is not simple, and it's not just about one language replacing another. It's
about how people use language, how they think about language, and how they work to preserve their
cultural identities. Researchers want to understand the specific conditions that lead to language shift,
who is involved in the process, and how it affects language and culture

Language Conflict:
Language conflict refers to a situation where there is a clash or disagreement over language use.
Language conflict arises when two or more languages interact with each other.

Types of Language conflict

There are two main types of Language conflicts:

 Interlingual conflict (A conflict within an individual)

 Interethnic language conflict (A conflict by means of language)

Examples of Language conflict:

There are many causes of Language conflict, but the major ones are given below:

 Political cause
 Historical cause
 Social cause

1. Political cause: Political causes are linked to power dynamics, governance, and policy decisions
regarding language use in official settings.

Examples

[Link] conflicts in Pakistan is fueled by perceptions that Urdu-speaking populations (particularly

migrants from India who settled in urban centers like Karachi after partition) have disproportionate
political influence and access to resources. This has caused tensions with native ethnic groups who feel
politically and economically marginalized. Political movements in different provinces (e.g.. the Sindhi
nationalist movement) have often incorporated language rights into their agendas, using the defense of
their linguistic heritage as a rallying point to garner support against perceived domination by the central
government.
[Link] has experienced language conflict between Ukrainian and Russian speakers, particularly
following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. Russian, historically dominant due to Soviet influence, was seen
by many Ukrainians as a symbol of Russian interference. The Ukrainian government's subsequent moves
to promote Ukrainian and restrict the official use of Russian in eastern regions have heightened
tensions, illustrating how language is deeply embedded in political struggles.

[Link] cause: Historical causes of language conflict often stem from past decisions about state
formation, colonial legacies, and the imposition of languages.

Examples

[Link] the time of partition in 1947, the leaders of the newly formed Pakistan, aiming to foster a national
identity distinct from India, chose Urdu as the national language. This was even though Urdu was
natively spoken by only a small percentage of the population, primarily immigrants from India (known as
Muhajirs) who settled in urban areas like Karachi. Most of the population in the vast geographic swathes
like East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) spoke Bengali, and other regions. had their own dominant
languages like Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, and Balochi. The decision to impose Urdu was seen. an attempt to
override the linguistic diversity of Pakistan. This led directly to the Language Movement in east Pakistan
in the 1950s, culminating in the Bengali Language Movement. The movement saw protests and loss of
life and eventually contributed significantly to the secession of East Pakistan and the creation of
Bangladesh in 1971.

[Link] showcases historical language conflict between its Flemish-speaking (Dutch) north and
French-speaking south. This division traces back to the formation of the Belgian state in 1830, where
French was established as the state language despite the Dutch-speaking majority. This historical
imposition has led to ongoing disputes and political tension, influencing everything from government
formation to educational policies.

[Link] cause: Social causes include issues identity, cultural preservation, and socio-economic
inequalities related to language use.

Examples

[Link] Pakistan, the emphasis on Urdu and English for educational advancement and government jobs
means that speakers of other regional languages might not have the same opportunities for social
mobility. This has bred resentment and perceptions of inequality among various linguistic groups,
impacting their socio-economic status.

[Link] has numerous linguistic groups, leading to conflicts particularly over language policy in education
and administration. The decision to adopt Hindi as an official language sparked protests in non-Hindi
speaking regions like Tamil Nadu, where people felt their linguistic and cultural. identity was under
threat. The central government had to adjust its policies to accommodate multiple languages in its
federal structure.

Language Shift
Language shift Language shift is language transfer or language replacement where by a speech
community of a language shifts to speaking another language. It’s happens when the language of the
wider society (majority) displaces the minority mother tongue language over time in migrant
communities or in communities under military occupation. Therefore when language shift occurs, it
shifts most of the time towards the language of the dominant group, and the result could be the
eradication of the local language.

Language shift in different communities:

. • Migrant minorities. People usually switch rapidly from phrase to phrase for instance. Reactions to
code-switching styles are negative in many communities, despite the fact that proficiency in intra
sentential code-switching requires good control of both codes. This may reflect the attitudes of the
majority the monolingual group in places like in North America and Britain. In places such as New
Guinea and East Africa where multilingualism is the norm, attitudes to proficient code-switching are
much more positive. The order of domains in which language shift occurs may differ for different
individuals and different groups, but gradually over time the language of the wider society displaces the
minority language mother tongue. This may take three or four generations but sometimes language shift
can be complemented in just two generations. Typically, migrants are virtually monolingual in their
mother tongue, their children are bilingual, and their grandchildren are often monolingual in the
language of the ‘host’ country.

• Non-migrant communities. Language shift is not always the result of migration. For this community
the home is the one most under any family’s control, language may be maintained in more domains
than just the home.

• Migrant majorities When language shift occurs, it is always shift towards the language of the domain
powerful group. A domain group has no incentive to adopt the language of minority. The domain
language is associated with status, prestige, and social success. When a language dies gradually, as
opposed to all its speakers being wiped out by a massacre or epidemic, and the function of the language
are taken over in one domain after another by another.

• Attitudes and values. Positive attitudes support efforts to use the minority language in a variety of
domains, and this helps people resist the pressure from the majority group to switch their language.
There are certain social factors which seem to retard wholesale language shift for a minority language
group, at least for a time. First, where language is considered an important symbol of a minority group’s
identity. Second, if families a minority group live near each other frequently. Another factor which may
contribute to language maintenance for those who emigrate is the degree and frequency of contact with
the homeland. Factors contributing to language shift, those are economic, social, and political factors.
The most obvious factor is that the community sees an important reason for learning the second
language. The second important factor is their ethnic language. Demographic factor are also relevant in
accounting for the speed of language shift. Resistance to language shift tends to last longer in rural than
in urban areas. Shift tends to occur faster in some groups than in other. The size of the group is
sometimes a critical factor. Although the pressures to shift are strong, members of a minority
community can take active steps to protect its language. Where a language is rated as high in status by
its users, and yet also regarded as a language of solidarity to be used between minority group members.
Different factors combine in different ways in each social context, and the result are rarely predictable.
Monolingualism is regarded as normal, bilingualism is considered unusual. Bilingualism and
multilingulism which is normal.

Factors contributing to language shift:

Economic, social and political factor

1. 1-The dominant language is associated with social status and prestige

2. 2-Obtaining work is the obvious economic reason for learning another language
3. 3-The pressure of institutional domains such as schools and the media

Demographic factors

1. 1-Language shift is faster in urban areas than rural

2. 2-The size of the group is some times a critical factor
3. 3-Intermarriage between groups can accelerate language shift

Attitudes and values Language shift is slower among communities where the minority language is
highly valued, therefore when the language is seen as an important symbol of ethnic identity its
generally maintained longer, and visa versa.

Examples of Language Shift in Pakistan:

One of the examples of language shift in Pakistan is from Punjabi to Urdu. The differences between the
urban and rural pepsilations are significant for the language of churice when interacting with friends and
coworkers. There are not only rural urban differences but also differences across genders within those
areas. Overall, rural males in most cases (almost 80%) use Punjabi with their zoworkers and friends, but
rural females tend to use both Panjabi and Urdu (although almost half of them, those who work in the
fields or at home, use only Punjabi). Clear shift is to be seen from Punjabi to other languages especially
Urdu with parents, with grandparents, with siblings, with friends, tenchers and at market. The speakers
send to use Urdu in most of the domains, with most people, except for the grundparents. Moreover,
they tend to use English with their friends and within educational institution with teacher but still usage
of Urdu prevails within educational instinations Even inside a family, code-ewinching in one generation
leads to language shift in the next. While 1st and 2nd generations prefer to speak in Punjabi and Urdu,
2nd generation wmehow do code wwitching to facilitate 3rd generation but Ist generation, the older
stick to their Mother Tongue. 3rd generation unually converses in English whatever the dealing is,
whether the conversation is in English or Punjabi/Urdu . This language is already prevalent in
metropolitan cities of Pakistan. Despite positive attitudes towards Punjabi in the urban areas of Pakistani
Punjabh, there is a shift towards the Urdu langunge in almost all duimains. This study shows that
significant differences in language choices are found between the moslorban and male/female residents
of Punjab province. Urban females are londing this shift in spite of their positive attitudes towards
Punjabi. Urban females me Punjabi very little and only in the home domain. In social and business
dumains Punjabi language is abnost non- existent anung urban educated, and middle-class females. The
shift from Punjabi to Unlu in the educated urban female group is almost complete in spite of their
positive attitudes towards their ancestral Urbsan males use more than the urbsan females. In a restuch
study by the University of Sargodha. "The Case of Punjabi in Sargodha Region of Pakistan", clear shift
was seen from Punjabi to other languages especially Unda (85% with friends, 60% teachers and 95% at
market). The speakers tend to use Urdu in most of the domains, with must people, except for the
grandparents. Moreover, they tend to use English with their friends (5%) and within educational
instination with teacher (40%). The resadts alus showed that most of the young participants in 40% that
took part in warvey were of the view that Punjabi is not being transmitted by parents to the next
generation while in the same context 70% think that it should not even be transmitted to children by the
parents. Prestige is another matter of significance when it comes to language, as 60% of the participants
think that Punjabi is not a prestigious language and 6.35 are not even prond of being Punjabi speaker
Another example of language shift is from Domaaki to Pashte in the Nager and Hunza Valleyn. It is a
characteristic example, in which large-scale language shift is leading to a rapid numerical decrease of a
speech community threatening the very existence of a minority langrunge, is Domaak (Do.). It is spoken
by a few hundred people living in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. It is the traditional tongue of the
Dooma, a small ethnic group. Unfortunately, due to the language shift this rather encouraging has
changed comiderably over the last 20 years. Thum, according to the latest estimates, in 2004, De had
only approximately 350 speakers left. This is due to the dominance of Pushna language, which is the
direct result of large-scale migration in the Northern arts of Pakistan in mid 1990s. While the older
generation of Donna preferred speaking their ethnic language, the younger generation shows more
interest in Pashtu. As Pathan traders and scholars became more influential in the community, the
speakers' attitude towards their original mother tongue depended on their perception of the usefulness
of Pashto in determining their social position within their host community.

Language Maintenance
Language maintenance is the degree to which an individual or grups continues to use their language,
particulary in bilingual or multilingual area or among imigrant grup whereas language shift is the process
by which a new language is acquired by new community usually resulting with the loss of the
community’s first language. Language maintenance refers to the situation where speech commuity
continues to use its traditional language in the face of a host of condition that might foster a shift to
another language. If language maintenance does not occur, there can be several results. One is language
death; speakers become bilingual, younger speakers become dominant in another language, and the
language is said to die. The speakers or the community does not die, of course, they just become a
subset of speakers of another language. The end result is language shift for the population, and if the
language isn't spoken elsewhere, it dies

How can a minority language be maintained?

1. A language can be maintained and preserved, when it's highly valued as an important symbol of
ethnic identity for the minority group.
2. If families from a minority group live near each other and see each other frequently, their
interactions will help to maintain the language.
3. For emigrate individuals from a minority group, the degree and frequency of contact with the
homeland can contribute to language maintenance.
4. Intermarriage within the same minority group is helpful to maintain the native language.
5. Ensuring that the minority group language is used at formal settings such as schools or worship
places will increases language maintenance.
6. An extended normal family in which parents, children and grandchildren live together and use the
same minority language can help to maintain it.
7. Institutional support from domains such as education, law, administration, religion and the media
can make a difference between the success and failure of maintaining a minority group language.

Language Attitude
Language attitudes are significant in shaping how people perceive various languages and dialects. These
attitudes are influenced by various factors, including social, cultural, historical, and personal
experiences. Attitudes towards language in the context of Sociolinguistics mainly focus on how
individuals perceive and evaluate various aspects of language, such as accents, dialects, and languages
themselves. These attitudes can vary widely based on factors like social status, region, ethnicity, and
education. For example, a study may investigate how people's attitudes towards a specific dialect
influence their perceptions of speakers from that dialect's region. Additionally, sociolinguistic research
might explore how attitudes toward multilingualism impact language policies and practices in a given
society. Overall, understanding attitudes toward language is crucial for comprehending the social
dynamics that shape linguistic behavior and interaction.

Factors Influencing Language Attitudes:

Several factors influence the attitudes of people towards language. These factors are:

1. Socioeconomic Status: Socioeconomic factors such as education level, income, and occupation
can influence language attitudes. Languages associated with higher social status or economic
opportunities may be viewed more positively than others.
2. Cultural Identity: Language plays a significant role in cultural identity. Individuals may hold
positive attitudes towards their native language as a marker of cultural pride and heritage while
viewing other languages as foreign or inferior.
3. Media and Education: The portrayal of languages in media, literature, and educational settings
can shape individuals' attitudes. Languages promoted in mainstream media or portrayed as
prestigious in educational institutions may be regarded more favorably.
4. Historical Context: Historical events such as colonization, migration, and political movements
can impact language attitudes. Languages that have been historically marginalized or oppressed
may face negative attitudes due to past experiences.
5. Peer Influence, Social interactions with peers, friends, and communities can influence language
attitudes. Positive or negative perceptions of a language within one's social circle can shape
individual attitudes toward that language

Language Death
When all the people who speak a language die, the language dies with them. Sometimes this fact is
crystal clear. When a language dies gradually, as opposed to all its speakers being wiped out by a
massacre or epidemic, the process is similar to that of language shift. The functions of the language are
taken over in one domain after another by another language. As the domains in which speakers use the
language shrink, the speakers of the dying language become gradually less proficient in it. With the
spread of a majority group language into more and more domains, the number of contexts in which
individuals use the ethnic language diminishes. The stylistic range that people acquire when they use a
language in a wider range of domains disappeared. With the spread of a majority group language into
more and more domains, the number of contexts in which individuals use the ethnic language
diminishes. The language usually retreats till it is used only in the home, and finally it is restricted to such
personal activities as counting, praying and dreaming

Example of language loss:

Annie at 20 is a young speaker of Dyirbal, an Australian Aboriginal language. He also speaks English
which she learned at school. There is no written Dyirbal material for her to read, and there are fewer
and fewer contexts in which she can appropriately hear and speak the language. So she is steadily
becoming less proficient in it. She can understand the Dyirbal she hears used by older people in her
community, and she uses it to speak to her grandmother. But her grandmother is scathing about her
ability in Dyirbal, saying Annie doesn’t speak the language properly.

Bhava; It is spoken in Sindh, especially in and around Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Kot Ghulam Muhammad
and Khipro. The speakers are said to be in a few hundreds, which makes it a 'threatened' language.
Bhaya, too, is an Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan language and has lexical similarities with
Marvari and Malvi.

Old English: Old English is considered a dead language because it is no longer in everyday use as a
spoken language. It refers to the form of English used from around the 5th century to the 11th century,
before the Conquest of England in 1066. The primary reason for its classification as a dead language is
that it has evolved and transformed into Middle English, which eventually led to Modern English, the
form of English spoken today.

Factors causing Death of language

Well over 5000 languages have existed but hundreds of them are no longer living languages used by
speaker and speech communities in their day-to-day activities. Some of them lead a pscudo life as
revered monuments of past which still have some restricted and specialized rules to play today such as
Latin, ancient Greek, Church Slavonic and others. But most of them are of interest and concerned only
to a small group of historians and some others who look at the past of many languages. Some languages
have disappeared without being known to us in any great detail with only some fragmentary materials in
them written or noted down by speakers of or observers of the hundreds or even thousands. This
disappearance of language continues today and have greatly accelerated during the last 200 years or so
cupecially indigenous languages in several continent particularly the American and Australia.

There are several factors that cause death of language as following

Rapid population collapse: Sudden events like genocide, disease, or natural disasters that wipe out a
large portion of a language's speaker population can cause abrupt language death. For example, Death
of Yiddish language genocide and exile of Jews from Germany. Hehrew language revived after not being
spoken for centuries.

Lack of economic opportunities; If a language is not tied to economic advancement or social mability,
speakers may shift to a dominant language that provides more opportunities. The poor countries of the
world, including Africa, are found in areas with the highest concentration of language but all the
languages are not given eqaal status or privilege. The speaker of less privilege language become social
economically disadvantage as multilingualisen is a reality in Africa where countries like Nigeria and
Democratic Republic of Congo have more than 200 languages it is important to design language stick
diversity become development asset rather than a liability.

Industrialization and rapid economic transformation: Societal changes like urbanization and migration
reduce the use of minority languages in favor of dominant languages. Various dialects of Punjabi have
become endangered because of migration to cities.

Cultural destruction and acculturation; The loss of traditional cultural practices and identity can lead to
the decline of the associated language.

Globalization and cultural homogenization: The spread of dominant global cultures und languages can
marginalize and threaten the survival of local and indigenous languages.

Intermarriage and social factors: Increased contact with dominant language speakers, such as through
migration or urbanization, can lead families to prioritize teaching the dominant language to their
children. Examples of languages that have faced death or decline due to these factors include
Tasmanian, Nicoleño, and many Aboriginal Australian languages.
The economic factor; Obtaining work is the most obvious economic reason for learning another
language. In English-dominated countries, for instance, people learn English in order to get good jobs.
This results in bilingualism. The high demand from industries for employees with fluent English has
successfully encouraged job seekers to equip themselves with English. In fact, being competent in
English leads to well-paid jobs.

Social factor, Language shift occurs when the community sees no reason to take active steps to maintain
their ethnic language. When a community of speakers moves region or country whose language is
different from theirs, there is a tendency to shift to the new language. Every time an immigrant learns
the native language of the new country and pusses it down to children in place of the old country
language. For example, when a migrant minority group moves predominately monolingual society
dominated by one majority group language in all the major institutional domains school, TV, radio,
newspaper, government administration, courts, work- language shift will be unavoidable unless the
community takes active steps to prevent it.

Political factor: A rapid shift occurs when people are anxious to get on' in a society where knowledge of
the second language is a prerequisite for success.

Demographic factor: Resistance to language shift sends to last longer in rural areas than in urban areas
because rural groups tend to be isolated from the centers of political power for longer. The rural people
can moet most of their social needs in the ethnic or minority language. For example, Ukrainians in
Canada who live out of town on farms have maintained their ethnic language better than those in the
towns because of their relative social isolation.