Abstract
China, a traditional out migration country, has undergone rapid internal migration over the past thirty years which has created a generation with expanded linguistic repertoires. While at the societal level China has always been multilingual at the individual level there is a tendency for Chinese citizens to be mono-dialectal with limited mobility (Yuming, 2015). Urbanization along with top-down societal, economic and language policies have served to create a multi-dialectal society with the northern dialect of Putonghua used as a lingua franca (Shen & Gao, 2019). However, it has been suggested that China is moving towards a mono-dialectal society, where the younger generation for various reasons are increasingly switching to competency in Putonghua as the national language (Yuming, 2015).
This study reports on 33 structured interviews, conducted within the Wu Dialect region of speakers aged between 16-77 years, about their use and attitudes towards their dialect. Translingual practices have emerged through (im)mobility, though these practices are more evident among the middle group of participants 30-60 years old, evident in their language beliefs and usage during the interview. Conversely, the older generation have weaker linguistic dexterity in Putonghua, and the younger generation are similarly weaker in the use of a local dialect, as China passes through a period of language shift. Perhaps understandably the middle generation were more remorseful of the dialect decline and the potentially emergent national monolingualism. This preliminary study is only able to provide a ‘snapshot’ of the developing language situation in China and therefore more extensive research is needed to measure the extent of China’s dialectal decline and understand the processes which contribute to this.
Shen, Q., & Gao, X. (2019). Multilingualism and
policy making in Greater China: ideological and implementational spaces. Language Policy, 18(1), 1-16.
Yuming, L. (2015). Language Planning in China. De Gruyter Mouton
This study reports on 33 structured interviews, conducted within the Wu Dialect region of speakers aged between 16-77 years, about their use and attitudes towards their dialect. Translingual practices have emerged through (im)mobility, though these practices are more evident among the middle group of participants 30-60 years old, evident in their language beliefs and usage during the interview. Conversely, the older generation have weaker linguistic dexterity in Putonghua, and the younger generation are similarly weaker in the use of a local dialect, as China passes through a period of language shift. Perhaps understandably the middle generation were more remorseful of the dialect decline and the potentially emergent national monolingualism. This preliminary study is only able to provide a ‘snapshot’ of the developing language situation in China and therefore more extensive research is needed to measure the extent of China’s dialectal decline and understand the processes which contribute to this.
Shen, Q., & Gao, X. (2019). Multilingualism and
policy making in Greater China: ideological and implementational spaces. Language Policy, 18(1), 1-16.
Yuming, L. (2015). Language Planning in China. De Gruyter Mouton
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 23 Jun 2023 |
| Event | Translanguaging in the Age of (Im)mobility - Darlana University , Falun, Sweden Duration: 12 Jun 2023 → 14 Jun 2023 |
Conference
| Conference | Translanguaging in the Age of (Im)mobility |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | Sweden |
| City | Falun |
| Period | 12/06/23 → 14/06/23 |