The aim of this paper is to explore how bilingual education policies in the People’s Republic of China affect the language abilities of the Yi ethnic minority, especially the Nuosu subgroup living in the Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province. The main focus is on the role of Standard Chinese compared to the Nuosu language, and how different psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic factors influence the development of bilingualism among Yi children. Special attention is given to the level of knowledge in both languages through formal and informal education, and the influence of family, school policies, and daily language use on children’s language identity. This thesis shows that psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic factors, which are often overlooked in existing research, strongly shape the actual level of bilingualism. This level may differ greatly from the goals set in official education policies. The research uses a theoretical and comparative approach, based on academic literature. Sources come from the fields of political science, sociolinguistics, anthropology, and psycholinguistics. An interdisciplinary method helps to better understand language as both a social and psychological phenomenon. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how language policies affect minority groups and show the importance of recognizing bilingualism in multilingual societies.
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