Our 'messy' mother tongue: Language attitudes among urban Uyghurs and desires for 'purity' in the public sphere

Abstract

This thesis is a qualitative study investigating how `purified' language in Uyghur-language broadcast media is interpreted by Uyghurs living in urban Ürümchi, the regional capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. `Purity' refers to the intentional avoidance of Mandarin Chinese loanwords, otherwise heard often in everyday conversations, but expunged in television news. The participants in my research, urban Uyghurs who received mother-tongue education, viewed `pure' language used in broadcast media as a pedagogical tool, holding it to prescriptive standards not deemed necessary for everyday language practice. Recent education reforms have greatly decreased exposure and use of Uyghur in the classroom, and increased the importance in the work environment to be proficient in Mandarin Chinese. I argue that, as a result, Uyghurs' language ideologies on mother tongue `purity' in the public sphere have become intensified, as can be seen in broadcast news media and viewers responses to these media.