The Emerging Picture: A Study of Language Preferences

Abstract

Abstract: Kashmir valley is a multilingual area where languages belonging to different language families are found. Kashmiri forms the mother tongue of majority of population. Urdu serves as the second language followed by English. Both the languages occupy an important position in the linguistic setup of the valley.Given this linguistic scenario majority of Kashmiri youth are multilingual and use the languages for different purposes. The present paper is an attempt to study the language preferences and choices of Kashmiri youth in different domains.

Key Words: Language Preference, Language Choice, Maintenance, Shift,Mother Tongue.