Language Attitudes and Lambada Youth in a Multilingual Domain
Upender Maloth & Hemanga Dutta
The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU)
Attitude is an integral component of human behaviour in Psychology and Sociolinguistics. The current study endeavours to explore the language usage patterns and language attitudes of educated Lambada youth towards their mother tongue and two dominant languages of Telengana namely Telugu and English. This study tries to find out whether there is any significant correlation between language attitudes and social variables such as geographical area, medium of instruction and gender. As per the findings of this study the informants seemed to have consistent positive attitudes towards the dominant languages Telugu and English although there is a significant difference observed in the responses of the informants towards Lambada language pertaining to geographical area and medium of instruction. The informants belonging to the urban area and English medium background had negative attitudes towards their mother tongue whereas their rural counterparts had highly positive attitude towards the same. Most of the informants from the rural pockets of Telengana who took their primary education in Telugu medium expressed their urge to protect their mother tongue Lambada along with the ethnic identity and indigenous culture associated with it. Lambada linguistic and cultural identity is still intact in the dwellings of the Lambada hamlets which are situated far away from the main stream Telugu society.
ISBN 9783862888917. LINCOM Studies in Sociolinguistics 17. 268pp. 2018.