Chinatown Chinese: The San Francisco Dialect

Ethnicity and Sociolinguistic Variation in San Francisco

“…This shift is occurring in Chinatowns across the United States, such as New York, Boston, and Chicago, as immigration patterns change at a global level (see Sacchetti 2009; Semple 2009). Dong and Hom (1980) argued that a dominant Chinatown Chinese variety existed in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the early 1980s, based in Toisanese, which all new immigrants oriented to regardless of their native variety. The newcomers, however, clearly shape that variety, so that ‘the Chinese Chinatown variety is forever in flux’ (Dong and Hom 1980:3).…”

“…Dong and Hom (1980) argued that a dominant Chinatown Chinese variety existed in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the early 1980s, based in Toisanese, which all new immigrants oriented to regardless of their native variety. The newcomers, however, clearly shape that variety, so that ‘the Chinese Chinatown variety is forever in flux’ (Dong and Hom 1980:3). One complicating factor is the increased use of Hong Kong Cantonese in Chinatown since the Chinese reunification of Hong Kong in 1997, a variety that differs markedly both from Mandarin and Toisanese.…”