A study on university students’ cognition, attitudes toward usage and preservation of Chinese dialects in Xinjiang: a sustainability-oriented perspective

As a core carrier of regional culture, dialects are increasingly threatened by declining proficiency and usage among younger generations. In the linguistically diverse context of Xinjiang, this decline underscores both the urgency and the unique significance of researching dialectal cultural heritage. Drawing on a survey of 501 university students in Xinjiang, this study employs a self-developed instrument—the University Students’ Dialect Cognition, Usage, and Protection Questionnaire (KMO = 0.894, cumulative variance explained = 76.45%)—to systematically examine their awareness, actual use, and attitudes toward the preservation of Chinese dialects across three key dimensions. The research reveals that university students from Xinjiang, particularly those originating from southern Xinjiang, exhibit significantly higher levels of dialect cognition and usage compared with their non-Xinjiang counterparts (p < 0.05), reflecting a clear pattern of regional divergence. Moreover, students majoring in language-related disciplines demonstrate significantly greater dialect usage than those in non-language majors (p < 0.05). In contrast, attitudes toward dialect preservation do not differ significantly across students from different geographic backgrounds (p > 0.05), indicating a shared recognition of cultural value regardless of regional origin. Furthermore, no significant differences are observed in dialect cognition, usage, or protection attitudes based on gender or age (p > 0.05), suggesting that these demographic variables do not substantially influence students’ engagement with dialects. From a sustainability perspective, the study proposes a differentiated conservation strategy: for Xinjiang-based students, enhancing dialect-related cultural education and public awareness initiatives; for non-Xinjiang students, fostering greater consciousness of dialect preservation; and promoting collaborative efforts among government, educational institutions, and civil society to establish a sustainable, multi-stakeholder protection framework that ultimately aiming to ensure the vitality and long-term transmission of Xinjiang’s dialect cultures.