Imbalance Between the Tradition and Modernity of Ethnic Education Seen from Mother-Tongue Attrition: A Field Study Based on Yulong Village, Lijiang
This sociolinguistic field study examines intergenerational attrition of everyday Naxi vocabulary in Yulong Village, Lijiang, arguing it stems from an imbalance between traditional and modern ethnic education. Surveying 30 villagers (10 each in old, middle-aged, and young groups) on recognition and use of 78 everyday Naxi words across ten semantic categories, plus interviews with 10 more residents, the author finds a sharp, statistically significant decline in both recognition and use scores moving from the old to the young generation (young group means roughly 30-40 points below the old group on a 100-point scale), with use scores dropping faster than recognition scores. Interview and ethnographic data trace this to eroding family education (parents no longer insisting on Naxi at home, Mandarin-medium urban schooling), the historical shift from Dongba-priest-led traditional schooling to modern Mandarin-medium school education, and the fading of Naxi-language social/ritual life (festivals, oral storytelling). The author recommends a 'pluralistic-integrated education' model -- strengthening family transmission, adding ethnic-language school-based curricula and bilingual instruction, and preserving community folk activities -- to balance modernization with mother-tongue preservation.
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