Language use in different domains in a Kadazandusun community

Abstract

Kadazandusun is the largest indigenous group in Sabah. As part of the language planning effort in the state, alongside Bahasa Malaysia (BM), their mother tongue has been included as a subject taught in primary and secondary schools in the state since the year 2000 and 2007 respectively. However, despite these conscious efforts, some research has shown that more of them use BM instead of their mother tongue. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of Kadazandusun maintenance and infilteration of BM in family, friendship, neighbourhood, transaction, religion and education domains. Questionnaire data were collected from 90 residents of a Kadazandusun community in Keningau, Sabah. Findings revealed that they generally maintain the use of their mother tongue although members of different age groups demonstrate varying levels of use. Despite expressing equal use of the two languages, respoAdents in the age group of 25 to 44 years use more of their mother tongue in domains where solidarity is valued. In contrast, those who are below this age range use more of BM in most of the domains. Possible factors that determine their use of the abovementioned languages in certain domains will be further discussed in the paper.