Maintaining the Panjabi Language and Culture

New Zealand is home to approximately twenty thousand Sikhs, a cultural community with its first arrival in 1890, which has grown significantly since 2001, particularly in the Auckland region. This Auckland case study considers the acquisition and maintenance of community's heritage language, Panjabi, and Sikh cultural identity among young Sikh migrants, within the Sikh religious institutions (gurdwaras) and the home environment. The research also considers indications of any language shift or attrition.This ethnographic qualitative study used mixed methods in the form of surveys, interviews and field observations to obtain data. Participants included Sikh adults who had children in the age group 8-16 and had migrated to New Zealand, and children of the aforementioned age group who were either born in New Zealand to migrant parents or were born overseas and migrated later. Survey data was collected in-person and online and was supplemented by interviews with ten different families. Observations from field visits to gurdwaras and visits to participants' homes provided background information on the community.The findings relating to gurdwaras showed that they are ideal places to conti