Between Empowerment and Vulnerability: A Critical Sociolinguistic Study of Myanmar Language Graduates’ Employment Experiences

Abstract

While an increasing number of sociolingusitic studies draw their attention to small language education, our knowledge about how learning small languages might empower students’ employment experiences remains under-explored. Adopting linguistic insecurity (Cho, 2015) as a theoretical framework, this study examines the lived employment experiences of 13 Myanmar language graduates. The findings reveal that while their Myanmar proficiency enables them to secure a profitable job and achieving translocal and transnational mobility, such language convertibility is temporary and conditional. The study argues that Myanmar graduates’ employment prospect is largely mediated by various structural constraints. This paper aims to offer nuanced insights into the complex interplay between small language proficiency, graduate employability, and structural constraints in the China-Myanmar borderlands.