Beyond binary shifts: an ethnographic family language policy study of three generations in a Tibetan household

Abstract

This study investigates the family language policy of a multilingual Tibetan family across three generations in Ganzi, Sichuan, China. Employing Spolsky’s (2004) tripartite framework and Hornberger’s (Citation2012) spectrum-based conceptualisation of language shift, the research reveals how language practices, ideologies, and management strategies dynamically interact within the family domain. Drawing on interviews, linguistic landscape analysis, and immersive observations, the findings document a transition from monolingualism to balanced Tibetan-Chinese bilingualism among third-generation siblings, with Tibetan maintaining strong vitality. This linguistic achievement can be attributed to family emphasis on Tibetan language maintenance, religious promotion, and established formal bilingual education. However, potential trajectories for language shift emerge in two areas: while Tibetan remains dominant in domestic contexts, Chinese has become the regional lingua franca for community interaction; additionally, an ideology favoring language standardisation, while not yet threatening Tibetan’s status, has contributed to the decline of smaller language varieties like Muya (木雅) and Sichuan dialect in this family. The study offers a richly textured, empirically-based portrait of sociolinguistic dynamics in this multi-ethnolinguistic context.

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