This work investigated the patterns of language maintenance and shift in the Blang speech community with a particular focus on the family domain. The findings contribute to the current understanding of LMS in the family domain by highlighting the interaction between different social actors in the family unit.
Minority languages such as Blang have become increasingly vulnerable under the pressure of vigorous promotion of Mandarin Chinese. The current work explores family language management practices of the Blang group through the lens of agency, hoping to better understand patterns of language maintenance and shift (LMS) in the Blang community in Yunnan Province, Southwest China. Empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews and home observations during fieldwork in the Blang Mountain Township. The analysis of the data revealed that Blang parents and grandparents deployed their agency in several ways, either resisting or adapting to the external circumstances (structure) through enacting different family language policies. However, Blang youth and children also had the capacity to negotiate, refute, and dismiss the family language policy through using their own agency. The contestation between grandparents, parents and children indicates that the implementation of family language policy is not always under the parents' control and the patterns of LMS in the family domain is a result of joint agency between all family members. The findings contribute to the current understanding of LMS in the family domain by highlighting the interaction between different social actors in the family unit.
