Capturing Bilingual Practices of the Bidayuh

This paper discusses an anthropological framework to examine language shift among the Bidayuh, a polyglossic community located in the south-western part of Sarawak, Borneo. The framework captures speakers’ variations in language choice patterns and their bilingual- /multilingual practices. Language choice data was collected through interviews with 61 respondents, and participant observation of language choice of the respondents in various settings. The results of the study indicate that language shift is primarily a consequence of subtractive bilingual practices. Taking the Bidayuh language situation as an example, the paper contends that speakers’ bi-/multilingual practices are central in the assessment and prediction of language shift in communities. Considered in this light, the macro-view of language choice patterns of a community as primary evidence of the progression of language shift in communities should then be considered with caution