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Vol. 8 No. 1 (2020)
Space and Culture, India

Research

Using the Interpersonal Relationship Communication Approach to Assess Language Dominance in both Written and Oral Communication among Multilinguals

https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v8i1.623

Published 2020-06-29

  • Olusiji Lasekan

Olusiji Lasekan
Pedagogía en Inglés, Departamento de Educación Media, Universidad Católica de Temuco

Abstract

Copious research works have attempted to assess language dominance among bilinguals. However, very little empirical research has been conducted to determine the concept among multilingual by using interpersonal relationships communication domains such as families, friendships, and acquaintances. This is crucial because the choice of language use between two interlocutors in any domain depends on the level of social relation that exists between them. Therefore, this current study aims to determine language dominance for oral and written communication at different domains of interpersonal relationships such as family, friends, and acquaintance. Each domain size was used as a proxy to measure language dominance among different groups of multilingual living in the Southern part of India. As part of this study, a structured sociolinguistics questionnaire that probes the use of the Facebook Friend Lists feature was adopted to determine each domain size and language use in each domain. The questionnaire was administered among forty-three multilingual postgraduate students. The result showed that the dominant language for oral and written communication in the entire geographical setting is the first language (L1) and English, respectively. This suggests that the interpersonal relationship communication approach is practical to determine language dominance in a community.

Keywords

Dominance, Multilingual, Interpersonal Relationships, Oral & Written Communication, India

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