Paper short abstract:

The study investigates to what extent Southeast Asian marriage immigrants have shifted their native languages in Taiwan. Data will be collected from questionnaires on Vietnamese, Indonesian, Philipino, and Thailand immigrants and analyzed in terms of dentity, language use, and language proficiency.

Paper long abstract:

This study investigates to what extent the Southeast Asian marriage immigrants have maintained or shifted their native languages in Taiwan. Marriage immigrants from Southeast Asia became noticeable in Taiwan since the late 1980s when commercial marriage migration brokers introduced brides from Southeast Asia to Taiwan's fishery and agricultural villages due to 'bride famine' in those rural areas. The number of marriage immigrants has been increase dramatically since the turn of this century. Their arrival has brought their languages into contact with the national or local languages of Taiwan. As a result, language conflicts occurred. This consequently contributes to the maintenance or shift of their native languages. However, little research has been done in this aspect. This study intends to do so.

For the purpose of the study, data will be collected from the use of questionnaires on four ethnic groups of marriage immigrants, i.e. Vietnamese, Indonesian, Philipino, and Thailand immigrants, who are the four largest groups of marriage immigrants in Taiwan. The data will be analyzed in terms of the following three perspectives: self ethnic- identity, language use in selected domains, and self-reported language proficiency by the marriage immigrants. The result will show the extent to which the native languages of those marriage immigrants has been maintained or shifted. Implications on factors contributing to immigrants' language maintenance or shift and proper language policy implemented for immigrants in a country will be drawn from the results.