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Assessing Language Vitality of the Gorontalo Language
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- Author / Creator
- Kadir, Rahmawaty
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This study aims to examine the linguistic vitality of the Gorontalo language, which was assessed as a threatened language by Ethnologue in 2020 (Eberhard, et al., 2020). Based on an extensive literature review, two research questions emerged: 1) What is the current language vitality of the Gorontalo Language? and 2) To what extent do the following variables influence Gorontalo language vitality: age, gender, place of origin, place of growing up, level of education and profession? This study employed an explanatory mixed-methods design. In the first phase of the study 60 participants who live in Gorontalo regency of Gorontalo province completed the quantitative sociolinguistic survey. A second phase involved qualitative data collection through semi-structured interviews with eight mothers of lower elementary school children. Both data collection phases were conducted in 2021. The study is informed by Fishman’s language use and language shift, Baker’s language attitudes, and the UNESCO language vitality assessment. Based on the Language Vitality Measurement Scales (LVMS), which were adapted from UNESCO’s frameworks, it was found that the current status of the Gorontalo language is shifting, with the child-bearing generation knowing the language well enough to converse among themselves, but not passing it on to their children. Vygotsky’s theory on language learning, Bonnie Norton’s theory on language and identity, and a large body of research on language planning and policy guided in interpreting the research findings. With the increasing numbers of endangered languages in Indonesia and the shortage of professional literature on the health of the Gorontalo language in Indonesia, the results of this study contribute to the scholarly literature on the Gorontalo language. It offers a contemporary descriptive portrait of language transmission, language use, language attitudes and language fluency within the Gorontalo community in Gorontalo province. Results can guide policies and practices for reversing language shift in the Gorontalo community and elsewhere in Indonesia.
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- Graduation date
- Spring 2024
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.