VEDA’S JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL)

ISSN: 2349-9753

An International Peer Reviewed (Refereed) Journal

Impact Factor (SJIF) 4.092           http://www.joell.in

ASSESSING THE PHENOMENA OF DIGLOSSIA AND LANGUAGE SHIFT

(The Case of Sheberghan City, Afghanistan)

Mahboob UllahBigzad^1*, Sanjay Kumar Jha²

^1*(Amity School of Liberal Arts, Amity University Haryana, India.)

²(Amity School of Liberal Arts, Amity University Haryana, India.)

doi: https://doi.org/10.33329/joell.62.32

ABSTRACT

          In the field of sociolinguistics, language shift is often studied with diglossia to see the uses of two languages or high and low varieties of the same language. Under the purview of diglossia and language shift, this study aims to elicit the perception of Sheberghan speakers towards the use of Dari and Uzbek in different domains of life. To be more precise, the study observed the degree of using Uzbek and Dari in day to day life of the Sheberghan speakers. Using random sampling technique, 100 educated bilinguals were selected as representative sample and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analytic induction. The findings of this research showed significant shift from Dari to Uzbek while prioritizing the use of language in daily paraphernalia of Sheberghan speech community.

Keywords: Language Shift, Diglossia, Dari, Uzbek, Degree of Language Use