Alemania y su relación con los inmigrantes

In this chapter I have presented a literature review of writings on the Siraiki language which are either historical or descriptive. I have also described the factors which have contributed to creating the need and later to asserting a collective identity in the South Punjab. Language has been a very powerful uniting symbol for the people living in the Siraiki region in their struggle for establishing their ethnic identity. The language policies of the British in India and later the language policies of the Pakistani governments as well as geo-historical and socio-political factors led to the present day

status of Siraiki. What becomes evident is that in establishing the Siraiki ethnicity, language, which played the key role at the beginning of the struggle, has receded to the background in the past two decades. Different activists belonging to different walks of life are taking part in this struggle with different aims and objectives. Nettle and Romaine (2000: 19) argue that ‘disputes involving language are not really about language, but instead about fundamental inequalities between groups who happen to speak different languages’. Although this observation fits quite well into the Siraiki linguistic situation, we cannot completely rule out the emotional attachment of ordinary Siraikis in general and nationalists in particular with their language. Their emotional attachment with their mother tongue has prevented the assimilation of Siraiki with Punjabi. It is therefore difficult to label the overall approach of the Siraiki nationalists as either purely instrumental or solely emotional. What needs to be seen is whether these approaches have influenced the language practices of the Siraikis. This issue will be addressed in chapters four and five.

As mentioned already, the researchers have so far largely ‘described’ Siraiki (cf. 2.3). These writings are descriptive and not analytical in nature. They only present ‘what’ rather than ‘why’ and ‘by whom’ in relation to the Siraiki language and its usage. So far no detailed sociolinguistic study has been carried out on actual Siraiki language practices. The writings that already exist give a general overview of the ‘socio-politico linguistic’ situation of Siraiki. These studies fail to give an account of actual language practices in Siraiki homes as they do not address the issue of what is happening to the Siraiki language today. My study incorporates the review of the ‘socio-politico linguistic’ situation of Siraiki and examines its influence on the present usage of Siraiki in the home domain which I try to make sense of in the light of several factors. It is generally accepted that at present no one single universally

accepted paradigm exists for examining language maintenance and language shift (David, 2002). With no example of any study carried out on language shift in Pakistan, or anywhere in the world on a language of about forty million people in rural and urban settings, I had to carve out a path for myself and find my own way; ‘the range of variables and their relative values in different social and cultural contexts remain too diverse for one framework to be universally applicable’ (ibid: vii). Organizing the contents of this thesis proved to be a constant challenge for me. It is very difficult to separate the speakers’ attitudes and speech practices from each other. Similarly it is hard to label whether a specific language choice is the direct result of a particular factor or a combination of factors. It is equally difficult to determine whether a particular attitude is resulting in certain type of language practices or whether a particular type of language usage is influencing certain types of attitudes. I have tried my best to organise the contents of the remaining chapters in the way that I deemed most logical, sensible and appropriate. The contents and the organisation of the remaining thesis are briefly discussed below.

I started my research with a pilot study (cf. 3.2). This pilot study was conducted to confirm what I had intuitively known by virtue of being a Multani living in Multan. It also made me aware of gaps and impossibilities in my original plan of research. After presenting the procedure and results of this study at the beginning of chapter three, I discuss in detail my research methods and data on which this study is based. I also reflect upon my position in this research and explore its implications on my data and methods. In chapter four I concentrate on the Siraiki language usage in the home domain. With the majority of the Siraiki population living in rural areas I could not ignore the possibility of exploring differences in the language practices of the rural and urban population. Hence the Siraiki language usage and transmission

practices of an equal number of rural and urban families are presented in this chapter. In chapter five, I explore the social, political, educational, economic, and affective factors that are influencing its status and usage. I also link these factors to the actual speech practices of the members of the participating families and their views regarding Siraiki and other languages spoken in Multan, presented in chapter four. In the final chapter I discuss the findings of this research and demonstrate the methodological strengths and contributions of the present study. Directions for further research are also given in that chapter.

Chapter 3