Language Shift or Maintenance? An Intergenerational Study of the Tibetan Community in Saudi Arabia

TL;DR

This study investigates language shift from Tibetan to Arabic among the Tibetan community in Saudi Arabia, highlighting significant intergenerational differences in language maintenance and shift practices.

Contribution

It provides the first empirical report on Tibetan language shift in Saudi Arabia, analyzing intergenerational language use across different social domains.

Findings

Younger members rarely use Tibetan, while older members use it slightly more.

Significant intergenerational differences in language shift with p-value .001.

Language shift is more pronounced in younger generations.

Abstract

The present study provides the first-ever report on the language shift from Tibetan to Arabic among descendants of Tibetan families who migrated from the Tibet region to Saudi Arabia around 70 years ago. The aim of this study was to determine whether three age groups had adopted different practices in terms of maintaining Tibetan or shifting to Hijazi Arabic. To this end, 96 male and female members of the Tibetan community responded to a questionnaire in which they were asked about their code choice in different domains (home, neighbourhood, friends and relatives, expressing emotion, and performing religious rituals). The data revealed significant intergenerational differences between members of the community in terms of the extent of the shift to Arabic, with Tibetan rarely used by younger members and older members making only slightly more use of it. The difference between the three age groups was significant, at a p-value of .001.