Language Maintenance or Shift: A Case Study of Sketches Soulful Sindhi Songs

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16886423

Abstract

Sindhi language belongs to the ancient culture of Indus civilization and music by Sufi poets which encompasses the rich cultural heritage and folktales of Sindh.  Previous empirical studies have reported that Sindhi language is shifting to the mainstream languages in urbanized cities among the youth. However, the culture and identity as an ethnic symbol is maintained by the Sindhi families and youth in multilingual city. Therefore, the present study explored whether the contemporary Sindhi music by Sketches band is contributing to language maintenance or shift of Sindhi among the educated Sindhi youth in Karachi. Furthermore, the study inquired what kind of emotional, cultural, social and individual values are acquired by listening to the music by Sketches band. For this purpose, the study collected data using purposive and snowball sampling from twenty participants. The data collected semi-structured interviews, observation and sociolinguistic analysis of the selected songs by Sketches band. The findings of the study showed that the music by Sketches band serves as a source of emotional connectivity, cultural preservation, social awareness and linguistic revival among youth in cities. Moreover, the sociolinguistic analysis of the Sindhi songs showed that the music promotes Sindhi values and culture, and the music serves as a strategy of language maintenance among the educated youth. Hence, language can be maintained by listening to traditional music which acts as a new domain (music) of language use despite language shift process in urban cities.

Keywords: Language Maintenance, Language Shift, Sketches Song, Sociolinguistic Analysis