Language Maintenance and Shift Sociolinguistics Chapter 3 Language Maintenance and Shift

Lesson 2 Language variation Different styles Different pronunciation Different vocabulary Different grammar Different dialects Different languages

Lesson 2 Language variation Participants Setting Topic Function

Lesson 3 Language Choice in Multilingual Communities Communicative repertoire Diglossia Code-switching and code-mixing

Learning Objectives Language shift Language death and language loss Factors contributing to language shift Language maintenance Language revival

Language shift The process by which one language displaces another in the linguistic repertoire of a community.

Language shift Migrant minorities Non-migrant communities Migrant majorities

Chinese dialects in Hong Kong 98% of Hong Kong people are ethnically Chinese. Most people in Hong Kong speak Cantonese. What about the numbers of people speaking other Chinese dialects?

Usual languages in Hong Kong 1996 2001 2006 2011 No. % Cantonese 5 196 240 88.7 5 726 972 89.2 6 030 960 90.8 6 095 213 89.5 Putonghua 65 892 1.1 55 410 0.9 60 859 94 399 1.4 Other Chinese Dialects 340 222 5.8 352 562 5.5 289 027 4.4 273 745 4.0 English 184 308 3.1 203 598 3.2 187 281 2.8 238 288 3.5 Others 73 879 1.3 79 197 1.2 72 217 106 788 1.6 Total 5 860 541 100.0 6 417 739 6 640 344 6 808 433 100

Language Shift Case of Hakka in Hong Kong 1911 Largest linguistic minority 15.1% of total population in Hong Kong 47% of total population in NT 54% of total population in northern district of NT

Example of language shift In a Hakka family: 1 Grandparents speak Hakka 2 Parents speak Hakka to grandparents, speak Cantonese to children 3 Children speak Cantonese

Social changes 1960s poor refugee community 1960s to 1990s provision of housing, health care, and education by the late colonial government

Demographic changes Increase in population: 1945 600,000 1945 600,000 1961 3.1 million 1971 3.9 million 1981 5.1 million 1991 6.2 million 2001 6.8 million 2011 7.0 million

Demographic changes 1) Before 1980, there were a lot of illegal immigrants because of the ‘touchbase’ policy. 2) From late 1970s onward, legal immigrants arrived in Hong Kong at a rate of 75-150 per day.

Linguistic consequences More children than ever before were able to get an education Differences in dialect backgrounds of children were removed through the effects of schooling ↓ Dialect levelling or accent levelling

Activity Make short notes on your own family, or describe a family you know that has three generations living in Hong Kong. Cover the following points: the place of birth of the grandparents, the varieties they usually use when communicating with each other, and other varieties they use to speak to other family members; the place of birth of the parents and the varieties they use when communicating with the grandparents, with each other and with the children; and the place of birth of the children and the varieties they use when communicating with the grandparents, with the parents, and with each other.

Language death Language death occurs when a language is no longer spoken naturally anywhere in the world. Exercise 3

Factor contributing to language shift Economic, social and political factors Demographic factors Exercise 4 Attitudes and values Exercise 5

Language maintenance Symbol of a minority group’s identity Families from the minority group live near each other Degree and frequency of contact with the homeland

Language maintenance Steps minority groups take to maintain a language: Extended families Use of the minority language in schools Institutional support (e.g. education, law and administration, the media) Exercise 6

Language revival Welsh in Wales Maori in New Zealand Hebrew in Israel Exercise 7