Abstract

In a multi-lingual setting, there is a chance for the minority languages to fall into the clutches of linguistic phenomena such as language shift, language variation, and so on. The Tiwa community living in the plains of Assam (also known as the Datiyalis) provides a serious example in this regard. Most of the plain Tiwas have stopped using their own language which is considered to be an endangered language by UNESCO and have shifted to the dominant language of the state, i.e., Assamese owing to different political, economic, and social reasons. Intergenerational language transmission is considered to be the golden standard by (Fishman in Reversing language shift: theoretical and empirical foundations of assistance to threatened languages. Multilingual Matters, 1991) as far survival of an endangered language is concerned as it refers to the language being transmitted from one generation to the next generation. If it happens, the language will survive; otherwise, it will lead to language shift or death. This present paper will help us in shedding light upon the intergenerational language choice in family as well as intra-community discourse such as peer interactions. Moreover, it would also help us in delving deeper into the sociolinguistic phenomena such as language shift and variation that has been taking place. The research methods such as conversational recordings and participant observation are used in examining if processes such as code-switching or code-mixing have been taking place. Also, sending out questionnaires helped us in studying the attitudes of the speakers towards their own language.