ABSTRACT
Language and ethnicity are usually recognized to be closely interrelated. The salience of language in ethnic relations can be illustrated in several ways; language can often be a critical attribute to group membership, an important cue for ethnic categorization, an emotional dimension of identity and a means of facilitating in-group cohesion (Giles and Coupland, 1991). The formation of the ethnic identity of indigenous minority members assumes the continuity of the indigenous culture by its values, beliefs and practices from one generation to the next. The language may act as the main tool for this continuity and for the internalization of culture by the individual. For many ethnic groups language therefore becomes an important dimension of ethnic identity by symbolizing the distinctiveness from other groups (Giles and Johnson, 1981; Heller, 1987).
