DefinePK

Abstract

This study aims to determine relationship between language loss and attitude to language. More than
one hundred participants who live in Delhi and speak Saraiki as L1 were studied. Half of the participants were born in Mianwali and adjacent areas and half of them were born in Delhi. Those who were born in Mianwali, moved to Delhi in 1947 at the time of division of the subcontinent into Pakistan and India. The number of male and female was equal in both groups. The participants were asked to produce words of Saraiki containing of the target sounds on word-medial position in the most accurate pronunciation. The productions were recorded and presented to four native speakers of Saraiki for evaluation. The evaluators marked the sounds on a five-point Likert scale. The scores were averaged. Interview was another tool of research. The participants know English, Hindi and Saraiki. In the interview they were asked which languages they knew. Their affiliation to Hindi, Saraiki and English was determined on the basis of their responses. The first language that they named was awarded 3 marks, the second one was awarded 2 marks and the one named last was awarded 1 mark. The results show that the participants were mostly affiliated to Hindi. In the production results it was also found that the influence of Hindi on language loss was very effective. Thus the study determines a relationship between attitude and language loss.