Investigating Cantonese speakers' language attitudes in Mainland China

Abstract

The People's Republic of China (PRC) has often been considered a monolithic, monolingual state but, in fact, it is linguistically and culturally diverse. Despite the size, there is still a lack of sociolinguistic studies on the Han Chinese in the PRC. Therefore, this study focuses on the language attitudes of Cantonese-speaking students in Mainland China towards Cantonese, Putonghua and English. Surveys were conducted to assess the language attitudes of Cantonese-speaking university students. The results showed students' strong integrative attitudes towards Cantonese, whereas Putonghua and English were recognised as instrumental tools for career advancement and international communication. Although the respondents of this study positively supported multilingualism, the active language policy of the PRC does not adequately promote a multilingual environment or cultural development of Han Chinese languages. Therefore, the authors call for policies that equally value official, minority and regional languages in China.

‘I feel a sense of solidarity when speaking Teochew’: unpacking family language planning and sustainable development of Teochew from a multilingual perspective

“…It was also found that, although Teochew was spoken on many occasions, people had a tendency to not speak Teochew initially when they were talking to a stranger. This finding echoes the results reported by Ng and Zhao (2015) in their investigation of Cantonese. The possibility of speakers using dialects decreases as their familiarity with the target speakers decreases.…”

“…For example, Shen (2016) revealed that, although many bottomup responses have been implemented to protect the Shanghai dialect, the biggest impact concerning the marginalisation of that dialect was the official policy promoting Putonghua as the official language in educational and higher social level in the Chinese context. In a similar vein, Ng and Zhao (2015) found that people had limited opportunities to use their dialects because the active top-down language policy did not adequately promote a multilingual environment or the multicultural development of the diversity of Chinese languages.…”

Language anxiety in Chinese dialects and Putonghua among college students in mainland China: the effects of sociobiographical and linguistic variables

“…However, the image presented by the state media differed somewhat from the opinions expressed on social media. Ng and Zhao (2015) also stated that the practical allocation of regional Chinese dialects was still constrained because people had limited opportunities to use the dialects. Liang (2015) conducted a linguistic ethnography study of people's language attitudes and identities in the multidialectal city of Guangzhou.…”

Sihua Liang, Language attitudes and identities in multilingual China: A linguistic ethnography. London: Springer, 2015. Pp. xvi, 202. Hb. €99.99.

“…The majority of attitude studies on Chinese dialects to date, however, have investigated adults' language attitudes, for instance, university students (e.g. Kalmar, Yong, & Hong 1987; Ng & Zhao 2014). Liang's book investigates primary school students at Grade 5.…”