The question of language loyalty among the Muslim-Malays of Southern Thailand

Abstract

Language. as is well known is not simply a vehicle for conveying a message or communicating between members of linguistic group. Language is also a part of a culture and an agent for the transmission of the culture. In a fa multilingual and multicultural society, language can function as a symbol which binds people together in groups and thus helps maintain their group consciousness, identity, and solidarity. This is particularly true for societies in language contact situations; where more than one language competes for the roles and functions in the society, as a consequence of which one language often becomes a ""dominant"" language while the other(s) become ""dominated."" Such a society naturally causes members of one particular group to face the dilemma of either maintaining allegiance to their own ""mother tongue"" or shifting away to the other tongue."" It is in a situation of languages in contact that the question of ""language loyalty"" becomes relevant.