“What I want to do I do not do”: on bi- and multilingual repertoires and linguistic dislocation in a border town

Abstract

Language problems and language barriers are challenges facing not only immigrants but also minorities and people in rural/semirural areas. This study examines individuals’ bi- and multilingual repertoires, language practices and attitudes in a Hokkien-speaking community in Kangar, a semirural town of northern Malaysia bordering Thailand. Through questionnaire surveys and interviews, we investigate how these notions can be used as a means to understand/reflect bilingualism and multilingualism and, more importantly, the potential disparity between what people want to do/say and what people eventually manage to do/say. While there is a shift in language practice from a local- and ancestral origin-induced pattern towards a more “global” and “pan-Chinese” paradigm, the findings also reveal the linguistic “dislocations” of the Hokkien-speaking community across ALL generations regardless of ethnicity. The language issues in the community reflect—and are likely to be reflections of—society at large. The vast contrast between individual/societal linguistic aspirations and the actual linguistic repertoire/communicative competence among the locals indicates the need to redress an absence of major efforts to close urban-rural/city-town/dominant-dominated social divides across the (language) education landscape at the national level.

Interference of Thai Language on Dialectal Variations of Jawi Malay in Narathiwat

“…In this context, this research takes a more detailed approach to explore the impact of Thai language interference on Jawi Malay in Narathiwat (Woolridge et al, 2024). The analysis of the literature review provides a strong foundation for understanding language and cultural changes in this multilingual region, with a specific emphasis on the role of previous speakers and their contributions in shaping language and cultural identity in Narathiwat (Ding & Chee, 2023).…”

Rethinking marginalization and heritage language vitality in multilingual families

“…Fishman (2001) argues that in the face of globalization, the invasion of a powerful language can destroy the possibility of the intergenerational transmission of an HL, which is usually the threatened language. Parents are thus faced with the challenge of having to decide whether the HL should be maintained and learned by their children or to opt for a common, dominant, or nonthreatened language of power, which may not be the mother tongue of either parent but the language of the majority of the community (Ding & Chee, 2021;Fishman, 2001;Schwartz, 2010).…”