Language Attitudes and Intergenerational Transmission among Sindhi Speakers: An Exploratory Ethnolinguistic Interview Study

Language plays a vital role in preserving linguistic diversity and fostering a sense of belonging, both of which are essential to the continuity of cultural heritage. This exploratory qualitative study examines the attitudes of Sindhi speakers in Sindh, Pakistan, toward their mother tongue: how they perceive Sindhi not only as a mode of communication but as a carrier of cultural identity across the domains of life. According to the 2023 national census, Sindh is home to more than 55.7 million people, of whom approximately 60 percent report Sindhi as their mother tongue, making it the province's largest first language alongside large Urdu-, Pashto-, Punjabi- and Balochi-speaking communities (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 2023). Using semi-structured interviews with three native Sindhi speakers of different generations (two adult schoolteachers and one female university student), this study examines how Sindhi speakers perceive their language, what they envision for its future across different domains of life, and how they intend to preserve their heritage through the survival of their mother tongue. Participants held strongly positive attitudes and framed Sindhi as a living cultural identity, while the youngest participant reported declining institutional support and increasing code-mixing. Because the sample is small and drawn from a single rural district, the findings are indicative rather than generalisable; their value lies in generating hypotheses for larger studies of language attitudes in Sindh.