The Examination of Language Vitality and Endangerment: Case Study of Yunnanese Dialects in Mae Salong District,Chiangrai Province, Thailand

Abstract

  Many years ago, a Chinese military group or Kok Min Tang (国民党), had migrated out since 1800 because of the political difficulties in China. People moved and settled in Northern Thailand, and from that time, Yunnanese becomes one of the minority groups of the northern part of Thailand. The purposes of this research were to examine the language vitality and endangerment of Yunnanese dialect in Veteran Village in Mae Salong District, Chiang Rai Province and to answer these questions: 1) vitality and endangerment of the Yunnanese dialect in Mae Salong; 2) situation of the Yunnanese dialect in Mae Salong. As a documentary research, the analysis had been based on the UNESCO’s “Language Vitality and Endangerment” which consisted of five factors: 1) Inter-generational Language Transmission; 2) Trends in Existing Language Domains; 3) Response to New Domains and Media; 4) Governmental and Institutional Language Attitudes and Policies; and 5) Community Members’ Attitudes toward their Own Language.
   The Yunnanese dialect’s vitality and endangerment was studied from the three generation in Mae Salong. The information and data were collected from observation, questionnaires, interviews and recording. Random sampling was conducted for representing the population and the key informants were purposively chosen. The results were as follows. Language vitality and endangerment of elder, middle age and young generation had 60%, 65% and 65% Yunnanese views respectively. Yunnanese dialect was spoken by all generations. For the attitude of Yunnanese people use Yunnanese dialect, young and middle age generations had 60% and 50% views. The Yunnanese dialect is very important in being accepted in a community. For the elder generation, the most important situation to use Yunnanese dialect is making friends (55%). The elder generation had lower education, but they showed a higher tendency to use the Yunnanese dialect than other generation groups. There was no significant difference in the use of Yunnanese dialect between males and females. Elder generations tended to have a stronger positive attitude than the young generation. Almost 90% of people regard as the Yunnanese dialect used as something in family and daily life the most important. The results from this study suggest that Yunnanese dialect should be preserved, protected and maintained in Thailand. People should provide in terms of creating a better environment to learn Yunnanese dialect and encourage learners to learn speak Yunnanese dialects.