Causes of Decline of Yadgha Language

Language is not an autocrat, its existence is dependent upon the community members who speak and own it. My study concerns questions and implications with regard to the sociolinguistic status of the Yadgha speakers inhabiting Lutkoh valley, on the north western side of Chitral. Theory adopted for the study is that language decline not only affects the indigenous communities but also decrease the knowledge pool in general. To develop a viable framework, I tested linguistic variations through observations and data collected from the community itself. The primary objective of the study was to investigate into the evidence of languistic vitality of Yadgha and the factors involved in the loss of Yadgha language in Lutkoh valley. All the residents of Lutkoh valley comprised the population of the study. Random sampling technique was used for data collection. Data was collected using Observations, Interviews, Questionnaires, Wordlists and texts. Data collected through these research tools was analyzed quantitatively by calculating the percent response. The study led to the findings that Yadgha language is one of the endangered languages of North Pakistan and the prominent factors involved in the process of its declination are: The economic status of the community, societal bilingualism and multilingualism, attitudinal changes among the speakers and national and global languages as pressure documents.