Language identity development and its relationship with language loss: the case study in Kurdistan Province

Languages symbolize identities. They are used to signal identities and even sometimes societies are categorized due to the language people speak. Thus, language plays a crucial role in constructing identity and its loss means the loss of certain identities. The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between language identity development and language loss among the residents living in Kurdistan province. This work is quantitative and applied in terms of survey methodology and purpose, respectively. The Taylor (2010) Standard Language Identity Questionnaire (2010) and the UNESCO Linguistic Death Questionnaire (2003) were used to collect data. For this purpose, 407 questionnaires were distributed among the statistical samples. Sampling was done by proportional classification method. The analysis of the findings showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between language identity development and its dimensions with language loss among the citizens living in Kurdistan province. It also revealed that among the various dimensions of language identity development variables, the expectation of others has the most explanatory role. The findings of this study also showed that although the dimensions of language identity affect language loss with an almost moderate intensity, It has left the way open for cultural activists and policymakers because the variables are manageable.