Research Information System
BILIG, no.82, pp.133-152, 2017 (SSCI)
The Yellow Uyghur language is used by the Yellow Uyghur, one of the official minorities recognized by the Chinese government. The Yellow Uyghurs generally inhabit the Sunan Yellow Uyghur Autonomous County in China. Recent data suggests that the total population of the Yellow Uyghur in China is only around 15 thousand but only around half of the population of Yellow Uyghurs can use their language in everyday life. Instead, Mandarin Chinese, as a component of China's compulsory education system, has begun to replace the Yellow Uyghur both in the home and in several social realms. Drawing upon studies from social anthropology and socio-linguistic studies, this paper will consider the impacts that monolingual education policies in minorities areas, especially in Yellow Uyghur area, mixed marriages, and the sense of losing "ethno-memory" have on the marginalization of the Yellow Uyghur language.