Abstract
Language choice is a sociolinguistic phenomenon which refers to the selection of language(s) for different purposes in various contexts. This study examines the language choice of Maldivians in online written communication in the domains of family, friendship and work. Dhivehi is the unique Indo-Aryan language spoken almost exclusively in the Maldives along with English as the unofficial second language. A total of 150 professionals from the fields of education, administration and health took part in the study with academic qualifications ranging from diploma to doctorate degree. The data was collected using a survey questionnaire and analysed quantitatively. The findings revealed that Dhivehi is the dominant language in the family domain while English is dominant in the friendship and work domains. There i s also a relationship between language choice and age, and English language proficiency. The high preference for English in online written communication indicates a need for a language policy that would emphasise and increase the use of Dhivehi online as a language maintenance effort Keywords: bilinguals; language choice; online written communication; domain analysis; dominant language DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2016-2202-04
Highlights
Language choice occurs in situations where there are two or more languages to choose from, in various contexts and for different purposes
The findings prove that language choice does depend on the domain of use, in line with Fishman’s (1972) domain analysis theory
Dhivehi is the dominant language in the family domain while English dominates both friendship and work domains
Summary
Language choice occurs in situations where there are two or more languages to choose from, in various contexts and for different purposes. The choice of language is influenced by broader sociolinguistic factors such as the status of English as a ‘global’ language (Seargeant Tagg & Ngampramuan 2012). In this era of technology, online communication via Instant Messaging (IM) applications such as email, Viber, Facebook and WhatsApp among others are quite common and preferred by many people as they are faster and more convenient. It is obvious that similar to face-to-face communication, interlocutors in online communication have a choice of language in a bilingual or multilingual context.
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