Title of article :
The Influence of Age Cohorts and Social Networks on the Language Choices of the Non-Indigenous Tamil Minority in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Author/Authors :
alagappar, ponmalar n. university of malaya - centre for the initiation of talent and industrial training (citra), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , dealwis, caesar universiti teknologi mara sarawak - academy of language studies, Sarawak, Malaysia , david, maya khemlani university of malaya - faculty of languages and linguistics, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , david, maya khemlani pusat perdagangan phileo damansara - london college of clinical hypnosis, Petaling Jaya, malaysia
Abstract :
This paper reports on the application of age cohorts to the theory of social networks in a study of language choices of Tamil city dwellers in Kuching, Sarawak located on the island of Borneo. This study, which adopts Milroy’s (1980) social networks, focuses mainly on code choices made in the spoken discourse of multilingual Tamils of different age cohorts. Our analysis of data gathered from a one-shot survey and supported by face-to-face interviews shows variations in code choices by age cohort. Code selections within and across the different age cohorts in the home and friendship domains denote the influence of age and social networks among minority Tamils.
Keywords :
language choices , social networks , code choice , age cohorts , Tamils of Kuching
