Analysis of social factors that influence the use of Uyghur loan words in Xinjiang Chinese dialect

坎曼丽?麦麦提

【Abstract】This paper briefly overviews the language environment in Xinjiang and analyzes the different social factors influencing the peoples attitudes for use of the Uyghur loan words in Xinjiang Chinese dialect from the sociolinguistic perspective.

【Key words】loan words; Xinjiang Chinese dialect; sociolinguistic perspective.

1. Introduction

1.1 Overview of language environment in Xinjiang

Xinjiang is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-language region, language contact in Xinjiang is extremely common. Among so many ethnic groups, Han and Uyghur are two largest groups in Xinjiang, and language contact between them is very frequent. As the business contacts and a variety of natural and social factors, nowadays Xinjiang Chinese dialect has a lot of Uyghur loan words, only in oral there are about 80(Zhou Lei, 2004).

2. Research design and methodology

This study is made in a form of questionnaire and interview, and it includes six social factors: race, age, gender,education level, type of education and profession. Interviews will complement the survey analysis.

2.1 Questionnaire

The subjects of this study are 100 people, including 50 Han, 50 Uyghur. Questionnaire consists of three parts: the first part is the basic information about the subject. The second part is a test, by “nice, friendly, helpful, whether have the social impact” these four items to test the attitudes of different people towards the use of Uyghur loan words in Xinjiang Chinese dialect. The last part is an open-ended questions, subjects are asked to write any idea about Uyghur loan words.

2.2 Interview

Interview is designed by five questions : Now in Chinese we often use “bazar”, “piyaz” etc,do you know where these words come from? do you like to use these words when you speak in Chinese? how about your family, do they like to use these words when they speak in Chinese? what kind of people use these words more? If you have the problem can not be explained in Mandarin, you will choose to use these words? Why?

3. Social factors that influence the use of uyghur loan words in Xinjiang Chinese dialect

3.1 Ethnic factors

Ethnic factors played a key role in the use of Uyghur loan words. Uyghur people are more positive in attitude. This is because these borrowed words are from their native language which they are more familiar with. Besides, ethnic minorities have very strong sense in the protection of their own language and hope that it could be widely used. So Uyghur people are using Uyghur loan words with a higher frequency. Xinjiang Han people are also showing a positive attitude to the Uyghur loan words .They think the Uyghur words sound good,very friendly, helpful and have a social impact. They also pointed out that the Uyghur words often used in Xinjiang dialects can be a very good retention of the local language characteristics, and it will also help narrow the gap between two ethnic groups, because it is easy to understand. People also hope that future generations can continue to retain these words.

3.2 Age

The statistics show that older generation use loan words more frequently , and their attitudes are more active than the young. Because older people generally have lower level of education, their Mandarin Chinese is poor. And young people, especially college students who got higher education, attach great importance to the use of Mandarin, so they can avoid the use of dialect in daily conversation.

3.3 Profession

To some extent, profession also affected the use of the Uyghur loan words, but in attitude is not so obvious. Workers, business man use the Uyghur loan words with higher frequency, while the students with low.

3.4 Education level

The people got higher education use the Uyghur loan words with lower frequency, especially college students, they paid great attention to the learning and using of standard Chinese, so they will avoid using dialect. While those with lower education, they use Uyghur loan words in Chinese with higher frequency.

However, gender and type of education dont have an impact on the use and attitudes of borrowed words .

Conclusion

By various social factors analyzed in this paper, we can clearly see the frequent use of the Uyghur loan words related closely to the education level and age. And a positive attitude of Uyghur and Han people which proved the two ethnic groups living in harmony in the new era of Xinjiang.

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