Volume 7, Issue 1

The study investigated the use of Mandarin and Chinese dialects, and attitudes towards these languages among the Foochow living in Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia. The study involved 408 Foochow respondents (204 children, 204 parents). As most of the respondents’ close friends, neighbours and colleagues were Foochow, and Chinese in general, Foochow and Mandarin were the two main languages used, but English, Malay and Iban were sometimes used with people from other ethnic groups. More parents felt at ease speaking Foochow in all situations but more children felt that it is nothing special to speak their dialect. The most cherished and emotionally expressive language for the parents was Foochow but for their children, it was Mandarin. More parents were aware of cultural associations and activities than their children. They believed that the use of Chinese dialects will decrease in future and intergenerational transmission of the dialect is important. Yet they were still looking to cultural associations and the government to promote their culture and dialect. The study indicated that the markers for membership of their Chinese dialect group are ancestry, language, living among people from the same dialect group, cultural practices and religion.

In view of theory sustaining that there is a nexus between linguistic repertoire, language and social identity, and that habitual language choice is not haphazard, this study explores the habitual use of Chinese – hence Chinese language maintenance (CHLM) – among multilingual Chinese migrant youth in Prato (Italy) to understand the social meaning embedded in it. The youth are multilingual; they speak Chinese and Italian. They exhibit CHLM with parents, as parents are not competent speakers of Italian. Some of the youth who are speakers of Italian, speak Chinese with peers, hence exhibiting CHLM within their generational cohort; while others do not, hence exhibiting Chinese language shift (CHLS). Oral data in which the youth self-present, report on others with whom they share social space, and talk about CHLM indicate that youth who speak Chinese with peers are not integrated into mainstream society; conversely, youth who are integrated shift to speaking Italian with peers. The analysis evidences that the youth’s integration is influenced by their social identity formation and other variables; such as their migration history, Chinese demographics in Prato and language ideology. Further, this study reveals that the youth are characterised by heterogeneity and that it is hierarchically ordered, heterogeneity and hierarchical ordering being indexed by the youth’s CHLM/CHLS and their alignment/disalignment with others that feature in their social space. This finding evidences that different enactments of Chinese identity are developing among Chinese migrant youth in Prato, thus de-essentialising Chinese identity. This study is wide reaching since it contributes to research on CHLM, the social identity formation of Chinese migrant youth populations, as well as new forms of Chinese identity emerging outside of the PRC. Data was analysed using the talk-in-interaction method of narrative analysis that studies oral narratives in which tellers seek to make sense of their human experience.

摘要 新马“国语运动”在1930年代进入“全盛期”,尤其在初期随着各种活动与组织的发展使“国语”的推广取得佳绩。然而1930年代中期开始在中国国内关于“国语”的一系列批评思潮与运动,尤其是1934年以来的“大众语运动”,新马华人社会也直接投入其中。1937年进入抗战时期,“大众语运动”结合“通俗文学运动”与“新文字运动”,在新马华人社会中宣传“抗战救亡”的工作上取得了普遍的支持,并由此直接或间接地影响了新马“国语”的发展及其推广。本文首先从1930年代新马社会的语言环境,尤其是“国语”的教育与使用情况分析,了解“大众语”在新马文化界与知识界深受支持的社会背景;其次是整理当时针对“大众语”及其相关运动的讨论及其宣传活动,最后则探讨1930年代“大众语运动”给新马华人社会所带来的影响,尤其是对“国语”的推广与发展的影响。

摘要 文章立足于东南亚华语史, 以新加坡早期华文报章《新国民日报》为对象, 以1919年末-1920年初和1933年为两个时间点, 进行语言发展变化的对比性调查, 将调查结果归纳为“四化”, 即中性化、方言化、欧化和本土化。在“四化”基础上, 归纳和提炼了华语及其历史研究的“三观”, 即三个基本观念: 华语形成与发展的动态观、早期华语与早期国语的同步观、华语发展的本土观。

摘要 文章分阶段考察了华语“被”字式百年来简化与繁化两种发展变化, 前者主要表现在由长“被”字式多到短“被”字式多以及由句子“降格”为句子成分; 后者则是音节不断拉长、成分类型渐趋多样化, 究其原因是为了适应表达的需求, 即由弱描述到强描述、由简单叙述到复杂叙述。此外, 新马华语“被”字式继承并保留了传统国语中的一些“古”“旧”形式。通过“被”字式的历时考察, 可以由小观大, 借斑窥豹, 由此来了解华语的发展与演进。

摘要 现有的东南亚华语研究多从共时层面展开, 历时研究较少。文章以《叻报》为例, 对1919年前后东南亚华语的数量表达形式从时间、金额、其他形式三个方面进行考察与表述。前后相比, 东南亚华语表达同一意义的形式类型由多变少, 使用范围和频次由不同形式相对均衡向一方偏移, 呈现出统一和规范的趋势。