Language Shift and Maintenance in Uttarakhand, a Hilly State of India

Abstract

Several lesser known and tribal languages of India are rapidly choosing to shift to local and official languages in educational, social, and even personal domains. This preference of the ‘other' language is aided by social, political, and economic factors that often devise the ‘other' as dominant. This chapter looks at the extent of language shift with respect to two communities living in the state of Uttarakhand in India and speaking respectively named endangered languages, Jad and Raji, in the light of these factors. The authors examine how language contact that is causal in language shift is changing their linguistic make up. In the Jad community, Hindi and Garhwali are the major dominating languages, and their presence can be seen in all the domains (100% in education, 35% in religious activities, and even 25% at home). In the Raji community, the usurping languages are Kumaoni and Hindi, and their presence in education is 100%, in religious activities is 45%, and 35% at the home front.

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