文獻上所記載的屏東滿州鄉，多以客家人爲主要聚落族群。從1928年（昭和3年）《台灣在籍漢民族鄉貫別調查》佔近六成比例，即透露來自廣東省嘉應州的客家人，輾轉遷移至滿州定居的現象。有關台灣的漢民族調查，滿州地區雖仍以客家人爲主，但已明顯看出數據的滑落，甚至在1989 年洪惟仁所繪製之〈台灣客家方言島消失示意圖〉已將滿州歸入「已消失的方言島」裡。從日治時期到80年後的今日，滿州鄉的客家人生活用語絕大部分都是鶴佬話，說自己是「客無著」、「客無過」的一份子。是什麼原因使客家人時時警惕「寧賣祖宗田，不忘祖宗言」的信仰逐漸衰退？族群認同上是否也已動搖？本文運用社會語言學的田野調查方式，以47個特殊詞彙訪問109位在地人，解釋語言變遷的原因，並對照在文獻上或在地圖上所呈現的客家人變成鶴佬客，到現在絕大部分的當地人已認爲自己是鶴佬人的過程。

Manchou township of Pingtung County has been mainly settled by Hakka people who migrated from Jiaying Prefecture in eastern Guangdong since the historical records exist. According to an investigation in 1928, Hakka made up nearly 53 percent of the population at that time. In 1956 the percentage dropped to 43.8, and later in 1980s Professor Ang, Ui-jin concluded that Manchou was already one of the "disappeared Hakka dialect islands." Nowadays, Hakka people in Manchou speak Taiwanese in daily communication. What is the reason that makes their belief of "we would rather sell ancestors' land than forget the language passed down by ancestors" collapsed gradually? Did their ethnic identity waver? This paper is based upon the analysis of a sociolinguistic fieldwork dealing with language use, ethnic identity and a 47-word questionnaire. 109 local native speakers were interviewed and the outcome shows that Manchou Hakka people consider themselves Taiwanese and their Taiwanese language still contain some lexicons with Hakka interference.