A SOCIOLINGUISTIC INVESTIGATION OF LANGUAGE USE AND IDENTITY AMONG PAKISTANI YOUTH

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the differences of language use between science students and arts
students. It was hypothesized that either arts students or science students place more
emphasis on being identified as Pakistani by giving cultural and symbolic importance to its
national language. Their attitudes and perceptions towards official, regional, national and
Hindi language are explored and contexts in which they mix their codes. Data has been
collected from the youngsters of different universities of Lahore. Both open ended and close
ended questions are asked. Data has been analyzed on SPSS. Multiple t-tests are carried
through to compare the language used by arts and science students. The result of t-tests
accepted the null hypothesis that there is no difference between language used by arts
students and science students. Youth prefer English language for educational purposes. Urdu
language is widely used by them and they think that Urdu and their regional languages are
their identity. English comes after Urdu and then regional languages come. They mix English
with Urdu and their regional language. Hindi is also mixed by some of them for
entertainment purposes. They mix their codes while talking to their friends and families. The
research highlighted that English medium for instruction is preferred by youth so; it should be
implemented by teachers while delivering their lectures. In a multilingual society code
switching and code mixing are common phenomenon.