| Summary: | This thesis explores language maintenance and shift among female Tibetan
immigrant youths in Toronto, Canada. It considers the various factors affecting language
shift and maintenance such as pre-migration experience such as residence and
educational history, linguistic repertoires, domains of language use, institutional support
factors such as exposure to media and attitude to native language. Data from a survey
questionnaire is analysed to inform the research with supplementary information
provided from interviews. The thesis demonstrates that language shift from Tibetan to
English is taking place among the respondents. First language (L1) oracy is receding in
its function towards personal domains while L1 literacy is at a critical stage where the
shift is more pronounced and it seems that it was already underway before the female
Tibetans youths came to Canada. The only domain, where Tibetan language seems to be
well maintained is in the personal domains of home, speaking to parents and in religious
activities. Code switching and a new dialect formation or koineisation is taking place
among the Tibetan in Diaspora === Arts, Faculty of === Asian Research, Institute of === Graduate
|
|---|
