A Study On The Linguistic Attitudes Of Ethnic Minorities In Western Hunan

Language attitude belongs to the social and psychological category. It is complex, latent, dynamic and unstable. Language attitude is a kind of language belief, and this belief was formed by the long-term historical process and deeply rooted into the psychological bottom of lingual people. Therefore, language attitude has a profound impact on the lingual people's language use, language ability as well as language and national identity, which accordingly is directly related to the vitality of a national language and the destiny of a nation.As a multi ethnic region, Xiangxi (Western province of Hunan) has rich language resources, therefore, language contact among these languages is quite frequent and language variation is also very complex. With the continuous development of local society and economy, communication among minority and Han is increasingly close, and language use and language attitude of minority lingual people also will be undergoing dramatic changes, which deeply affect the fate of the national languages. According to the investigations, we know that Tujia language has become critically endangered languages, and language vitality of several other minority languages such as Miao, Dong and Yao also grew weaker in different degree. In a certain sense, the change of language attitude of lingual people is a very important factor that leads to language change. Based on the way of questionnaire survey and the method of investigation, interview and comparison, this paper researchs the language attitude of the lingual people in Xiangxi minority region, and understands their conditions of language ability and language use, and analysis the differences of language attitude among the diffent nationalities, and finds out the key factors affecting the language attitude of local minority lingual people. Finally, according to these studies, we put forward some measures that can improve language attitude and some mechanisms and measures that can protect minority language in Xiangxi region.The thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the motive and purpose of the research, object and significance of the research, innovation and methods of the research. In addition, this chapter also briefly reviews the research status about the domestic and foreign language attitude. The chapter2, the chapter3, the chapter4and the chapter5briefly introduce the population and geography distribution of Tujia, Bai, Miao, Dong, and the origin and formation of these nationalites as well as the language's features of these nationalites. The four chapters detailedly analyze the status of language attitude, language use and language identity of the four nationalities, and we also detailedly analyze the causes of the formation of these conditions. The sixth chapter analyzes the differences of the language attitude between Tujia and Miao in Xiangxi region, and discusses the motivations of the formation of these differences in the psychological, economy, language and culture of nationality.The conclusion part summarized the research findings and conclusions of this topic. The study found that the mother tongue attitude of Miao and Dong is positive, and the mother tongue attitude of Tujia is negative, and the language attitude of Minjia-dialect of Bai and Mandarin is a positive; In Xiangxi region(West of Hunan province), the evaluation of mother tongue affinity was significantly higher than the evaluation of mother tongue practicalness in mother tongue attitude of minority; the language attitude of the minority in Xiangxi region is the result of the various social factors, the reasons of the formation is very complex; there are very close associations among the three elements of language attitude and between the three elements of language attitude and general attitude; the minority of Xiangxi region has a high degree of acceptance about Mandarin, they have a strong ability of bilingual and bidialect, and their difference of language ability mainly produced in the aspects of the gender and the age; the Chinese dialect has become the main language of social intercourse in the minority of Xiangxi region, Mandarin has a higher rate of use in some specific occasions when they are in the external register. According to the research in this paper, we put forward a conception of minority language protection in Xiangxi region(West of Hunan province).That is to say, we must pay more attention to the cultivation of language attitude, and must enhance the enthusiasm of learning and protecting the mother tongue, and make the main responsibility clear. The government, the school and the family must work together in order to better protect the native language; and it is our target that to pursuit the common prosperity in the aspects of the economic and social development as well as the national language and culture.The value of this study lies mainly in the following aspects.First, this study is an important measure to master the national and provincial conditions of language, bacasue it is the first in China to make a comprehensive investigation of language attitude of several large minorities in Xiangxi region. Second, combined with the language attitudes, language use, language ability, language and national identity, our survey can help people to have a deeper understanding in the relationship of language attitude and language behavior.Third, Based on deep comparison of the language attitude of two minorities, Tujia and Miao, in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, we can know further the motivations of the language attitude formation and the language endangerment.Fourth, through combining the protection of the endangered languages and the development of the local industries of ethnic culture and language, this study explores the long-term mechanism and power source for the protection of endangered languages.In a word, this study will not only be helpful for the deep study of social linguistics and ethnology in some important theories, but also have important and practical significance and value for the exploration of protection mechanisms and measures of the endangered languages, and for the protection and heritage of minority intangible cultural heritage, and for the development of the local ethnic education, and also for the formulation of local language policy, and for the harmonious development of local society and economy in Xiangxi region.