Language proficiency and usage among second- and third-generation Rohingya refugees in Mecca

This study examined responses from a questionnaire administered to 98 second- and third-generation Rohingya refugees living in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Questions concerned participants' self-reported language proficiency levels in the Rohingya heritage language and Arabic and patterns of language use in various domains. Findings demonstrate that the respondents from both generational groups reported a good level of Rohingya oral skills, which is a departure from the typical patterns of language shift over three generations. While Arabic seems to dominate the public, media, and religious domains, Rohingya is habitually used in the private domains of the family and ethnic community. The most important factors that seem to encourage intergenerational language transfer of Rohingya include (1) habitual use of the Rohingya language at home, (2) geographical concentration of Rohingya refugees in certain ethnic enclave neighbourhoods that provide exposure to the Rohingya language and usage opportunities, and (3) the ability of bilingual Rohingya refugees to utilise their language use patterns to index their status as ethnic Rohingyas and Muslims in the Saudi Arabic-dominant context. This study contributes to the current understanding of language contact situations and calls for greater attention to be paid to contact dynamics between languages in refugee contexts.