Speaking Punjabi(s): Heritage Language Socialization and Language Ideologies in a Sikh Education Program

Abstract

This ethnographic study of a Punjabi Sikh religious education program in the United States examines how different linguistic codes that constitute Punjabi heritage languages are tied to Sikh notions of moral personhood and ethno-religious community. This article analyzes two distinct activities: Gurbani (prayer recitation) and Sikh youth discussion classes. In Gurbani classes, children and youth are taught to perform verses from Sikh scriptures, which are written in an archaic form of Punjabi. Students are also socialized into prosodic and embodied features of prayer recitation that display respect and devotion to the scripture. While Gurbani classesorient students to the use of archaic Punjabi through spiritual practice, teachers in Sikh youth discussion classes discursively construct the everyday use of modern Punjabi as a moral imperative for the preservation and transmission of Sikh religion and culture in the future. Students articulate diverse perspectives on the importance of speaking Punjabi, and the question of who is responsible for language maintenance is debated. Together the analyses of the prayer classes and discussion classes reveal a view of heritage language as moral action that represents and socializes transnational and generational continuity and ethno-religious identification.

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