‘Hazaragi in My Opinion Is Not a Language’: Insights Into Hazara Minority Speakers’ Language Attitudes and Identity Changes in Pakistan

ABSTRACT This study examines the language attitudes of the Hazara minority community in Quetta, Pakistan, analyzing how they perceive their heritage language, Hazaragi, and other languages within a context of persistent ethnolinguistic, sociocultural, and socioeconomic exclusion. Against a backdrop of systemic/institutional neglect, the research demonstrates how Hazara's interaction with a hierarchically structured linguistic environment shapes their attitudes and informs their linguistic and cultural identities. Employing a qualitative research design, data were gathered through interviews with six students and six teachers from a leading English language academy in a Hazara‐majority neighborhood. Findings reveal that while participants express emotional/affective attachment to Hazaragi, this affective bond is outweighed by economic instrumentalism and social pragmatism, as their cognitive and behavioral investments are primarily directed toward English and, to a lesser extent, Urdu. The study also reveals complex and fluid identity layers; their identities are marked more by subtractive than additive changes. Participants' future imaginaries and multilingual selves are ideally tied to English, and pragmatically to Urdu, while Hazaragi is largely excluded from these aspirations. The study is significant as it addresses a research gap by highlighting the complex interplay of language, identity, and power in the lived experiences of a marginalized ethnolinguistic community in Pakistan.