Language Attitudes and Intergenerational Transmission among Sindhi Speakers: An Exploratory Ethnolinguistic Interview Study
Abstract
Language plays a vital role in preserving linguistic diversity and fostering a sense of belonging, both of which are essential to the continuity of cultural heritage. This exploratory qualitative study examines the attitudes of Sindhi speakers in Sindh, Pakistan, toward their mother tongue: how they perceive Sindhi not only as a mode of communication but as a carrier of cultural identity across the domains of life. According to the 2023 national census, Sindh is home to more than 55.7 million people, of whom approximately 60 percent report Sindhi as their mother tongue, making it the province's largest first language alongside large Urdu-, Pashto-, Punjabi- and Balochi-speaking communities (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 2023). Using semi-structured interviews with three native Sindhi speakers of different generations (two adult schoolteachers and one female university student), this study examines how Sindhi speakers perceive their language, what they envision for its future across different domains of life, and how they intend to preserve their heritage through the survival of their mother tongue. Participants held strongly positive attitudes and framed Sindhi as a living cultural identity, while the youngest participant reported declining institutional support and increasing code-mixing. Because the sample is small and drawn from a single rural district, the findings are indicative rather than generalisable; their value lies in generating hypotheses for larger studies of language attitudes in Sindh.
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Introduction
The aim of this study is to understand the attitude of Sindhi speakers in Sindh toward their mother language. The focus is on how inhabitants of a region with one of the oldest urban civilisations in South Asia view their own language today, and how contemporary social and educational changes—including the dominance of English-medium instruction, urbanisation, and digital communication—shape their perspective on their culturally rooted linguistic identity. This research was conducted through recorded interviews, using transcription as a mode to analyse linguistic patterns.
The transcription is based on interviews conducted with three native Sindhi speakers from different generations. The participants include two adult schoolteachers, one male and one female, and one young female university student. The interviews explored their attitudes toward the Sindhi language, how they perceive Sindhi as a tool of cultural production and transformation, and their views on the future of the language and its role in society. The main focus of this research is to understand how linguistic diversity is maintained by native speakers and what their attitudes are toward the future of that diversity. This research specifically focuses on the Sindhi language spoken in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
The main objectives of this study are: first, to explore Sindhi as an icon of generational identity; second, to examine the role speakers believe the Sindhi language plays in their future; and lastly, to explain why speakers consider this linguistic heritage worth preserving, and what actions they identify as essential to preserving Sindhi as a means of cultural expression and emotional connection among the people of Sindh.
Conclusion
Language should not be understood merely as an emotional analogue of biodiversity; rather, it is a living entity that requires sustained cultivation across generations to survive. This is reflected in the accounts of the native Sindhi speakers interviewed here, who continue to inhabit a region with one of the oldest urban civilisations in South Asia. This research concludes that language cultivates identity and reflects the personality and deeply rooted culture of a people.
The participants in this exploratory study demonstrated a strongly positive attitude toward their language. However, the youngest participant's account points to a potential gap in the younger generation, whose members often have limited exposure to Sindhi-medium education and reduced opportunities to use the language formally. As one teacher-participant noted, if left unaddressed, this gap could contribute to the long-term weakening of the Sindhi language. In light of these findings, this study concludes that, in the view of its speakers, the preservation of Sindhi depends not on external threats but on the continued engagement, awareness and pride of its own younger generation. These conclusions are drawn from three participants in one district and are offered as hypotheses for larger, systematic studies of language attitudes across Sindh.
This study contributes to the sociolinguistics of lesser-studied languages by documenting the attitudes of Sindhi speakers toward their mother tongue and by identifying a potential generational gap in institutional support and language use. It should be noted that this study does not directly measure intergenerational transmission; rather, it examines participants' attitudes toward the language and their reports of their own language use, which are relevant to but not identical with transmission. Future research could extend this work in several directions: larger-scale surveys of language attitudes across urban and rural Sindh; comparative studies of Sindhi communities in the diaspora (building on David's work in Malaysia); ethnographic studies of language use in specific domains (home, school, workplace, digital media); direct studies of parent–child interactions and language use in the home; and intervention studies examining the effectiveness of mother-tongue education programmes. Such work would help to establish whether the patterns identified here hold more broadly and to inform language policy in Sindh and beyond.
References
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