Abstract:

〔Abstract〕 Dehong Prefecture of Yunnan Province is typical of multi-ethnics， multi-languages and multi-dialects. When Burmese with multilingual cultural background come to Dehong， they enter another multilingual environment and face a new language adaptation and identity building. This case comparative study on a Burmese Chinese and a Burmese in Dehong shows that the measure dimensions for language identity do not have the equal force， that powerful languages have a higher influential force in the language identity construction， that a multilingual mode with mandarin Chinese as a prior language is adopted， that English is evaluated to have higher emotional and functional value than its value in "identity"， and that mutual intelligibility between the speaker's ancestor dialects and the local dialect has a positive function in language identity construction.

Key words: 〔Key words〕 , Burmese in Dehong,  , language identity,  , multilingual mode