DOCSLIB.ORG

Multilingualism and Language Shift in a Malaysian Hakka Familiy

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Multilingualism and Language Shift in a Malaysian Hakka Familiy Grazer Linguistische Studien 89 (Frühjahr 2018); S. 89- 110. 0 0 1:10.25364/04.45:2018.89.5 Multilingualism and language shift in a Malaysian Hakka family' Ralf Vollmann & Tek Wooi Soon University oJGraz , Institute oJ Linguisti cs; ralfvollmann@uni-gra z.at Abs tract. Background.In multiethnic and mul tilingual Malaysia, four sta n­ dardized languages (Malay, English,Ch inese, Tami l) and a number of spo ken languages (e.g. Hakka, Bahasa Pasar , Malaysian Eng lish) serve pluriglossic purposes. Today, Standard (Malays ian) Chinese is used by ethnic Chinese not only at th e acrolectal, but also at th e me­ solectal (inter-gro up communication) and basilectal level (fa mily, friends). Studies have obse rved lan gu age shift of th e family lan gu age fro m a sma ller Chinese lan gu age to Malays ian Ma nda rin. Ma teria l & method. This study investi gat es th e lan gu age use in one Hakka family livin g in Peninsul ar Malays ia (KL, Penan g) and mainland Chi­ na. Spec ific focus lies on Hakka as th e famil y lan guage and its in ter­ generational development. Ana lysis. All family mem ber s are multi­ lingu al, th e older and middle ge ne ra tions use va rious lan gu ages be ­ side th eir family lan gu age, Hakka. The middle-aged spea ke rs cons i­ der th eir ow n Hakka 'impure'; code-s witching and multilingu al con­ ver sati ons are a regu lar occ ur rence. Int ereth nic marriages and school educa tion make Mandarin the most suitable lan gu age for corn muni­ cation even in the famil y. Thus, Hakka is no lon ger actively acquired by th e yo ungest family mem bers. Conclusions. Hakk a is viewe d as the fami ly langu age and still wid ely used, but its position is substan­ tially weake ne d in th e youngest ge nera tion. Keywords. Hakka, Malaysia, min ority lan gu age, multilingu alism , lan gu age loss TI1e autho rs want to th ank Dörte Borch ers for comme nts on an earlier version of th is pap er. 90 Ralf Vollmann & Tek Wooi 500n 1. Background 1.1. The linguistic situation in Malaysian Chi­ nese Malaysia is a multi-ethnic soc iety w ith man y lan gu ages (Asmah 1992; Vikar 2004). Mal ay (Ml.) is the nationallan guage, En glish (EN), Mandarin Chinese (IvlC), and Tamil are also used in th e media. Ther e are mor e spo ke n lan gu ages (er. Vollmann & Soon 20 18); th e ethnic Chinese usually spea k South Chines e lan gu ages/: peop le will also use Malaysia n English ("Ma ng lish", ME) and Bahasa Pasar (BP), creolized forms of the respective lexifier languages . All speake rs are mul ­ tilin gual and choose their lin guisti c resou rces in depend ence of th e situa tion and com munica tion partner s. Amo ng th e va rious ethnic Chines e lingui sti c groups, th e Min (Ho kkien, HO ), Yue (Can to nese, CT), and Kejia (Ha kka , HK) spea­ kin g comm unities are th e most numerous in Malaysia (er. Platt 1977: 365). 111e speake rs of Teochew (TC), Taish an , Hainan ese, and othe rs form sma ller groups. When differ ent Ch inese sub-groups meet , a sha red lan gu age is need ed for com munication. 111is problem has tra­ dit ion all y been so lve d throu gh multilingu al com pe tence , but in recent tim es, Mandarin is reported to pr ogr essively taking thi s role, eve n in th e famil y dom ain, e.g. in Kuching (er. Ting & Cha ng 2008). 1.2. Hakk a 111 e Hakkas (t: ~ Keji ä), rep ortedly coming from th e North of Ch i­ na, se ttle d in South Jian gxi, West ern Min (Fujian), or Eastern Gu an g­ dong. Their lan gu age is close to the Gan dialects (Sagart 2002) and has converg ed w ith Guangdo ng varieties. Fro m her e, man y Hakk as migr ated to South and South- Eas t Asia, Taiwan, and othe r places such as Sur ina me (er. Leo 20 15). In Peninsu lar Malaysia, th e Hakka speech co mmunity is concen­ tr at ed in Kuala Lumpur, Kajan g, Serdang (Seri Kemban gan ), along th e road to Titi Jelebu, Pu sin g (near Ipoh ), also in Bukit Mertajam These lan gu ages or Chinese dialects (7J 1; fängyan ) are not n1U ­ tu ally under st andabl e; non et heless, th ey are viewe d as bein g Han (ix.). Multilingualism and lan guage shift 91 and Balik Pulau (Pen an g). In Sarawak , Hakk a is the largest Chinese sub-g roup (with 160.000 spea kers), conce ntra ted in Kuching (Ting & Cha ng 2008). In Sabah , Hakka even serves as lingu a [ra nca (Leo 2015: 76). 1.3. Standard and non-standard languages In modern societies , it is mandatory for educa tiona l and eco nomic success to gain access to an elabora ted and reliable lingui sti c register (cf. Maas 2008, 2010). Usually, a "language" is recogni zed as such through a pr ocess of standardization and pr opagati on of a cano nical and elabora ted form . All deviation from thi s cano nical form is then called a "dialect", In a mod ern society, dialects turn into sociolects re­ pr esenting a sma ller identity beside the wid er identity represented by the standard lan guage. In traditi on al societies, the written stan­ dard lan guage is distant to all (or most) spo ken vari eties, used on ly by few wr iters (clergy , officials), and ther efore does not influ en ce th e spoke n lan guages very much; the spea kers will simply ada pt to corn­ municative needs by learning othe r varieties, but will usu ally be ex­ cluded fro m the acrolectal level. A modern standardized spoken lan guage in combi na tio n with schoo l educa tion leads to widesprea d bilingu alism (standard/d ialec t), access to acrolectal uses and writte n inform at ion , and will gra dually take over functions of the spoken varieties, fro m acrolectal to meso­ lectal levels. Spoken varie ties will be influ en ced by th e standard lan ­ guage and undergo dialect levellin g; their usage will be confined to a basilectallevel. In the case of plur icentric lan guages, alterna tive stan­ dard s may develop. In the case of Chinese, the writing sys tem pr ovides lingui sti c unity since long. With the definition of modern Spoken and Written Standard Chinese in the 20th century (* 1& 11; p ütonghu« ' the com­ mon lan guage'; Mand arin Chinese, MC), a pow erful new lingui stic resource becam e ava ilable through schoo l education to the spea ke rs of the various Chinese dialects and was readil y adop ted also in Ma­ laysia. The substra tic linguistic situa tion has influ en ced the stan dard lan guage (Malays ian Mand arin, IvlM), but w ill also weaken the posi­ tion of the spoken Chinese va rieties. 92 Ralf Vollmann & Tek W ooi Soo n While lan gu ages such as Hakk a may be considered abstand lan­ guages, i.e., varieties too distant to th e standard lan gu age to be con­ sidered a dialect, Chinese identity is inclusive of these spea kers. 1.4. Chinese identities For ethnic Chinese , identity is construe d as famil y member s (ances ­ tor worship , tradition al famil y structure) , as people spea king a 'dia­ leer (e.g., Hakka) and bein g descend ants of a coun ty (e.g., Dabu, in the pr ovin ce Gua ng do ng/Canton ), as Chinese Ux.. ,Han ), and as state citizens of a country (Malays ian) - whi ch is summed up as "Overseas Chinese ". In Malaysi a, it is a pr actical necessit y (and pr esti gious ) to speak languages in addit ion to the one spoken by the group one identifies with, i.e. othe r Chinese dialects, Mandarin Chinese, and English). The Chinese dialects are neit her dialects in the Euro pea n se nse (as a geographica l ph en om en on ) nor sociolects on a social scale (as in urb an lan guage resear ch); th ey are based on th e family lineage, ancestry. The Chinese culture (outside of China) is (ofte n) different from wha t has been disc ussed for Wes tern cultures in that ethnic identity (race) is mor e imp ortant tha n language, religion , or culture (cf. Clam­ mer 1982); th er e are "ethnic Chinese" peo ple who do not speak Chi­ nese' or who speak a "Chinese dialec t" which is not un derstan dable by other Chi nese peopl e, but they all adhe re to the eth nic group of Chinese, feeling related to Chinese culture. Identity for Malays ian citizens with Chinese background is th e­ refore layer ed. Spea kinglreading Mandarin refer s to their Chinese ­ ness, speaking/understanding Cantonese is a useful resource (in Kua­ la Lumpur; but also with (Hong kong) dram a series, movi es, music, new s, wri tten texts). Spea king Hakk a (0 1' any other Sout hern Chinese lan guage) refer s to a patri mony/ki nship lregional identi ty.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • An Overview of Hakka Migration History: Where Are You From?
    客家 My China Roots & CBA Jamaica An overview of Hakka Migration History: Where are you from? July, 2016 www.mychinaroots.com & www.cbajamaica.com 15 © My China Roots An Overview of Hakka Migration History: Where Are You From? Table of Contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 3 Five Key Hakka Migration Waves............................................................................................. 3 Mapping the Waves ....................................................................................................................... 3 First Wave: 4th Century, “the Five Barbarians,” Jin Dynasty......................................................... 4 Second Wave: 10th Century, Fall of the Tang Dynasty ................................................................. 6 Third Wave: Late 12th & 13th Century, Fall Northern & Southern Song Dynasties ....................... 7 Fourth Wave: 2nd Half 17th Century, Ming-Qing Cataclysm .......................................................... 8 Fifth Wave: 19th – Early 20th Century ............................................................................................. 9 Case Study: Hakka Migration to Jamaica ............................................................................ 11 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 11 Context for Early Migration: The Coolie Trade...........................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Mon-Khmer Studies Volume 41
    Mon-Khmer Studies VOLUME 42 The journal of Austroasiatic languages and cultures Established 1964 Copyright for these papers vested in the authors Released under Creative Commons Attribution License Volume 42 Editors: Paul Sidwell Brian Migliazza ISSN: 0147-5207 Website: http://mksjournal.org Published in 2013 by: Mahidol University (Thailand) SIL International (USA) Contents Papers (Peer reviewed) K. S. NAGARAJA, Paul SIDWELL, Simon GREENHILL A Lexicostatistical Study of the Khasian Languages: Khasi, Pnar, Lyngngam, and War 1-11 Michelle MILLER A Description of Kmhmu’ Lao Script-Based Orthography 12-25 Elizabeth HALL A phonological description of Muak Sa-aak 26-39 YANIN Sawanakunanon Segment timing in certain Austroasiatic languages: implications for typological classification 40-53 Narinthorn Sombatnan BEHR A comparison between the vowel systems and the acoustic characteristics of vowels in Thai Mon and BurmeseMon: a tendency towards different language types 54-80 P. K. CHOUDHARY Tense, Aspect and Modals in Ho 81-88 NGUYỄN Anh-Thư T. and John C. L. INGRAM Perception of prominence patterns in Vietnamese disyllabic words 89-101 Peter NORQUEST A revised inventory of Proto Austronesian consonants: Kra-Dai and Austroasiatic Evidence 102-126 Charles Thomas TEBOW II and Sigrid LEW A phonological description of Western Bru, Sakon Nakhorn variety, Thailand 127-139 Notes, Reviews, Data-Papers Jonathan SCHMUTZ The Ta’oi Language and People i-xiii Darren C. GORDON A selective Palaungic linguistic bibliography xiv-xxxiii Nathaniel CHEESEMAN, Jennifer
    [Show full text]
  • 新加坡e 乐大赏singapore Entertainment Awards 2014 人气奖项投选
    新加坡 e 乐大赏 Singapore Entertainment Awards 2014 人气奖项投选名单 Most Popular Categories (Open for public voting) A. e 乐人气男歌手 Most Popular Male Singer 1 毕书尽 Bii 2 胡夏 Hu Xia 3 林俊杰 JJ Lin 4 杨宗纬 Aska Yang 5 萧敬腾 Jam Hsiao 6 罗志祥 Show Luo 7 黄鸿升 Alien Huang 8 周杰伦 Jay Chou 9 王力宏 Wang Lee Hom 10 严爵 Yen-J B. e 乐人气女歌手 Most Popular Female Singer 1 张惠妹 A-Mei 2 蔡健雅 Tanya Chua 3 白安 Ann 4 戴佩妮 Penny Tai 5 丁当 Della Ding Dang 6 蔡依林 Jolin Tsai 7 孙燕姿 Stefanie Sun 8 杨丞琳 Rainie Yang 9 何韵诗 Denise Ho 10 田馥甄 Hebe Tien 1 C. e 乐人气本地歌手 Most Popular Local Singer 1 孙燕姿 Stefanie Sun 2 蔡淳佳 Joi Chua 3 乔毓明 Ming Bridges 4 何维健 Derrick Hoh 5 黄义达 Huang Yida 6 蔡健雅 Tanya Chua 7 麦克疯 MICappella 8 插班生 The Freshman 9 Olivia Ong Olivia Ong 10 林俊杰 JJ Lin D. e 乐人气乐团 Most Popular Band 1 飞儿乐团 F.I.R 2 旺福 Won Fu 3 苏打绿 sodagreen 4 五月天 Mayday 5 MP 魔幻力量 Magic Power E. e 乐人气组合 Most Popular Group 1 Popu Lady Popu Lady 2 EXO-M EXO-M 3 Super Junior-M Super Junior-M 4 动力火车 Power Station 5 S.H.E S.H.E 2 F. e 乐人气华语 MV Most Popular Music Video (C-pop) 歌名 歌手 1 渺小 田馥甄 2 Come Back To Me Bii 毕书尽 3 其实都没有 杨宗纬 4 纯属意外 戴佩妮 5 再遇见 苏打绿 6 天使之翼 杨丞琳 7 黑暗骑士 林俊杰 8 爱投罗网 罗志祥 9 恋爱元气弹 Popu Lady 10 超有感 黄鸿升 G.
    [Show full text]
  • A Corpus Study of the 3 Tone Sandhi in Standard Chinese
    A Corpus Study of the 3 rd Tone Sandhi in Standard Chinese Yiya Chen 1, Jiahong Yuan 2 1 Department of Linguistics, Radboud University Nijmegen 2 Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania [email protected], [email protected] (Zhang 1988, Shih 1997, M. Chen 2000, Chen 2003, Chen Abstract 2004). Speer et al. (1989) show that listeners are indeed In Standard Chinese, a Low tone (Tone3) is often realized sensitive to a constituent’s phrasal structure in judging the application of the 3 rd tone Sandhi to constituents which could with a rising F0 contour before another Low tone, known as the 3rd tone Sandhi. This study investigates the acoustic be ambiguous between an underlying Rising tone and a characteristics of the 3rd tone Sandhi in Standard Chinese Sandhi Rising tone. Their results suggest the possibility that the higher linguistic boundary it is between two Low tones, using a large telephone conversation speech corpus. Sandhi rd Rising was found to be different from the underlying Rising the less likely the 3 tone sandhi rule is applied. With regard tone (Tone2) in bi-syllabic words in two measures: the to the difference between the underlying Rising tone and the Sandhi Rising tone, Peng (2000) show that the F0 maximum magnitude of the F 0 rising and the time span of the F 0 rising. We also found different effects of word frequency on Sandhi of SR is lower than R. Furthermore, in fast speech, a Sandhi Rising and the underlying Rising tones. Finally, for tri- Rising tone may flatten and show no apparent F0 rise (Kuo, syllabic constituents with Low tone only, constituent Xu, and Yip, to appear).
    [Show full text]
  • The Past, Present, and Future of English Dialects: Quantifying Convergence, Divergence, and Dynamic Equilibrium
    Language Variation and Change, 22 (2010), 69–104. © Cambridge University Press, 2010 0954-3945/10 $16.00 doi:10.1017/S0954394510000013 The past, present, and future of English dialects: Quantifying convergence, divergence, and dynamic equilibrium WARREN M AGUIRE AND A PRIL M C M AHON University of Edinburgh P AUL H EGGARTY University of Cambridge D AN D EDIU Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics ABSTRACT This article reports on research which seeks to compare and measure the similarities between phonetic transcriptions in the analysis of relationships between varieties of English. It addresses the question of whether these varieties have been converging, diverging, or maintaining equilibrium as a result of endogenous and exogenous phonetic and phonological changes. We argue that it is only possible to identify such patterns of change by the simultaneous comparison of a wide range of varieties of a language across a data set that has not been specifically selected to highlight those changes that are believed to be important. Our analysis suggests that although there has been an obvious reduction in regional variation with the loss of traditional dialects of English and Scots, there has not been any significant convergence (or divergence) of regional accents of English in recent decades, despite the rapid spread of a number of features such as TH-fronting. THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF ENGLISH DIALECTS Trudgill (1990) made a distinction between Traditional and Mainstream dialects of English. Of the Traditional dialects, he stated (p. 5) that: They are most easily found, as far as England is concerned, in the more remote and peripheral rural areas of the country, although some urban areas of northern and western England still have many Traditional Dialect speakers.
    [Show full text]
  • THAILAND Submission to the CERD Committee Coalition on Racial
    Shadow Report on Eliminating Racial Discrimination: THAILAND Submission to the CERD Committee 1 Coalition on Racial Discrimination Watch Preamble: 1. “ We have a distinct way of life, settlement and cultivation practices that are intricately linked with nature, forests and wild life. Our ways of life are sustainable and nature friendly and these traditions and practices have been taught and passed on from one generation to the next. But now because of State policies and waves of modernisation we are struggling to preserve and maintain our traditional ways of life” Mr. Joni Odochao, Intellectual, Karen ethnic, Opening Speech at the Indigenous Peoples Day Festival in Chiangmai, Northern Thailand 2007 Introduction on Indigenous peoples and ethnic groups in Thailand 1 The coalition was established as a loose network at the Workshop Programme on 5th July 2012 on the Shadow Report on the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) organised by the Ethnic Studies and Development Center, Sociology Faculty, Chiangmai University in cooperation with Cross Cultural Foundation and the Highland Peoples Taskforce 1 2. The Network of Indigenous Peoples in Thailand2, in the International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) yearbook on 2008, explained the background of indigenous peoples in Thailand. The indigenous people of Thailand are most commonly referred to as “hill tribes”, sometimes as “ethnic minorities”, and the ten officially recognised ethnic groups are usually called “chao khao” (meaning “hill/mountain people” or “highlanders”). These and other indigenous people live in the North and North-western parts of the country. A few other indigenous groups live in the North-east and indigenous fishing communities and a small population of hunter-gatherers inhabit the South of Thailand.
    [Show full text]
  • Cantonese Vs. Mandarin: a Summary
    Cantonese vs. Mandarin: A summary JMFT October 21, 2015 This short essay is intended to summarise the similarities and differences between Cantonese and Mandarin. 1 Introduction The large geographical area that is referred to as `China'1 is home to many languages and dialects. Most of these languages are related, and fall under the umbrella term Hanyu (¡£), a term which is usually translated as `Chinese' and spoken of as though it were a unified language. In fact, there are hundreds of dialects and varieties of Chinese, which are not mutually intelligible. With 910 million speakers worldwide2, Mandarin is by far the most common dialect of Chinese. `Mandarin' or `guanhua' originally referred to the language of the mandarins, the government bureaucrats who were based in Beijing. This language was based on the Bejing dialect of Chinese. It was promoted by the Qing dynasty (1644{1912) and later the People's Republic (1949{) as the country's lingua franca, as part of efforts by these governments to establish political unity. Mandarin is now used by most people in China and Taiwan. 3 Mandarin itself consists of many subvarities which are not mutually intelligible. Cantonese (Yuetyu (£) is named after the city Canton, whose name is now transliterated as Guangdong. It is spoken in Hong Kong and Macau (with a combined population of around 8 million), and, owing to these cities' former colonial status, by many overseas Chinese. In the rest of China, Cantonese is relatively rare, but it is still sometimes spoken in Guangzhou. 2 History and etymology It is interesting to note that the Cantonese name for Cantonese, Yuetyu, means `language of the Yuet people'.
    [Show full text]
  • MEDIA RELEASE for Immediate Release
    MEDIA RELEASE For Immediate Release SINGAPORE MEDIA FESTIVAL 2019 KICKS OFF WITH LOCAL PREMIERE OF ANTHONY CHEN’S WET SEASON SMF Festival Village to feature wide array of activities - Festival Premiere for HBO’s Folklore; Power Rangers and 501st Legions Cosplay Parades; In-Conversation with award-winning Director Naoko Ogigami, Meet and Greet sessions and media masterclasses SINGAPORE, 21 November 2019 – The sixth edition of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF) opened this evening with the highly-anticipated Singapore premiere of the 30th Singapore International Film Festival’s opening film, Wet Season. Held at the iconic Capitol Theatre, the opening event’s red carpet was led by award-winning Singapore filmmaker Anthony Chen, along with cast members Yeo Yann Yann, Yang Shi Bin, and rising star Koh Jia Ler. They were joined by international industry personalities like Stone, as well as local personalities like Constance Lau, Chen Tian Wen, Joanna Dong and Benjamin Kheng, among others. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat, graced the occasion as Guest- of-Honour. From 21 November to 8 December, the Singapore Media Festival will gather thought leaders, content creators and talents from the global film, television, digital media and pop culture industries to celebrate the best of Asian storytelling. Hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Festival consists of the: Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) and ScreenSingapore, Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA), Singapore Comic Con (SGCC) – this year’s new addition VidCon Asia Summit – a two-day event held in conjunction with SMF, and Festival Village at Armenian Street, an outdoor rain or shine event Over 50,000 thought-leaders, creative professionals, and members of the public from Asia and around the world are expected to be part of the festival this year, more than double the number last year.
    [Show full text]
  • Singapore Mandarin Chinese : Its Variations and Studies
    This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Singapore Mandarin Chinese : its variations and studies Lin, Jingxia; Khoo, Yong Kang 2018 Lin, J., & Khoo, Y. K. (2018). Singapore Mandarin Chinese : its variations and studies. Chinese Language and Discourse, 9(2), 109‑135. doi:10.1075/cld.18007.lin https://hdl.handle.net/10356/136920 https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.18007.lin © 2018 John Benjamins Publishing Company. All rights reserved. This paper was published in Chinese Language and Discourse and is made available with permission of John Benjamins Publishing Company. Downloaded on 26 Sep 2021 00:28:12 SGT To appear in Chinese Language and Discourse (2018) Singapore Mandarin Chinese: Its Variations and Studies* Jingxia Lin and Yong Kang Khoo Nanyang Technological University Abstract Given the historical and linguistic contexts of Singapore, it is both theoretically and practically significant to study Singapore Mandarin (SM), an important member of Global Chinese. This paper aims to present a relatively comprehensive linguistic picture of SM by overviewing current studies, particularly on the variations that distinguish SM from other Mandarin varieties, and to serve as a reference for future studies on SM. This paper notes that (a) current studies have often provided general descriptions of the variations, but less on individual variations that may lead to more theoretical discussions; (b) the studies on SM are primarily based on the comparison with Mainland China Mandarin; (c) language contact has been taken as the major contributor of the variation in SM, whereas other factors are often neglected; and (d) corpora with SM data are comparatively less developed and the evaluation of data has remained largely in descriptive statistics.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Contact in Nanning: Nanning Pinghua and Nanning Cantonese
    20140303 draft of : de Sousa, Hilário. 2015a. Language contact in Nanning: Nanning Pinghua and Nanning Cantonese. In Chappell, Hilary (ed.), Diversity in Sinitic languages, 157–189. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Do not quote or cite this draft. LANGUAGE CONTACT IN NANNING — FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF NANNING PINGHUA AND NANNING CANTONESE1 Hilário de Sousa Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, École des hautes études en sciences sociales — ERC SINOTYPE project 1 Various topics discussed in this paper formed the body of talks given at the following conferences: Syntax of the World’s Languages IV, Dynamique du Langage, CNRS & Université Lumière Lyon 2, 2010; Humanities of the Lesser-Known — New Directions in the Descriptions, Documentation, and Typology of Endangered Languages and Musics, Lunds Universitet, 2010; 第五屆漢語方言語法國際研討會 [The Fifth International Conference on the Grammar of Chinese Dialects], 上海大学 Shanghai University, 2010; Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Conference 21, Kasetsart University, 2011; and Workshop on Ecology, Population Movements, and Language Diversity, Université Lumière Lyon 2, 2011. I would like to thank the conference organizers, and all who attended my talks and provided me with valuable comments. I would also like to thank all of my Nanning Pinghua informants, my main informant 梁世華 lɛŋ11 ɬi55wa11/ Liáng Shìhuá in particular, for teaching me their language(s). I have learnt a great deal from all the linguists that I met in Guangxi, 林亦 Lín Yì and 覃鳳餘 Qín Fèngyú of Guangxi University in particular. My colleagues have given me much comments and support; I would like to thank all of them, our director, Prof. Hilary Chappell, in particular. Errors are my own.
    [Show full text]
  • Mandarin Chinese As a Second Language: a Review of Literature Wesley A
    The University of Akron IdeaExchange@UAkron The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors Honors Research Projects College Fall 2015 Mandarin Chinese as a Second Language: A Review of Literature Wesley A. Spencer The University Of Akron, [email protected] Please take a moment to share how this work helps you through this survey. Your feedback will be important as we plan further development of our repository. Follow this and additional works at: http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Chinese Studies Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, and the Modern Languages Commons Recommended Citation Spencer, Wesley A., "Mandarin Chinese as a Second Language: A Review of Literature" (2015). Honors Research Projects. 210. http://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/210 This Honors Research Project is brought to you for free and open access by The Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Honors College at IdeaExchange@UAkron, the institutional repository of The nivU ersity of Akron in Akron, Ohio, USA. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Research Projects by an authorized administrator of IdeaExchange@UAkron. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Running head: MANDARIN CHINESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE 1 Mandarin Chinese as a Second Language: A Review of Literature Abstract Mandarin Chinese has become increasing prevalent in the modern world. Accordingly, research of Chinese as a second language has developed greatly over the past few decades. This paper reviews research on the difficulties of acquiring a second language in general and research that specifically details the difficulty of acquiring Chinese as a second language.
    [Show full text]
  • Learn Thai Language in Malaysia
    Learn thai language in malaysia Continue Learning in Japan - Shinjuku Japan Language Research Institute in Japan Briefing Workshop is back. This time we are with Shinjuku of the Japanese Language Institute (SNG) to give a briefing for our students, on learning Japanese in Japan.You will not only learn the language, but you will ... Or nearby, the Thailand- Malaysia border. Almost one million Thai Muslims live in this subregion, which is a belief, and learn how, to grow other (besides rice) crops for which there is a good market; Thai, this term literally means visitor, ASEAN identity, are we there yet? Poll by Thai Tertiary Students ' Sociolinguistic. Views on the ASEAN community. Nussara Waddsorn. The Assumption University usually introduces and offers as a mandatory optional or free optional foreign language course in the state-higher Japanese, German, Spanish and Thai languages of Malaysia. In what part students find it easy or difficult to learn, taking Mandarin READING HABITS AND ATTITUDES OF THAI L2 STUDENTS from MICHAEL JOHN STRAUSS, presented partly to meet the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS (TESOL) I was able to learn Thai with Sukothai, where you can learn a lot about the deep history of Thailand and culture. Be sure to read the guide and learn a little about the story before you go. Also consider visiting neighboring countries like Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. Air LANGUAGE: Thai, English, Bangkok TYPE OF GOVERNMENT: Constitutional Monarchy CURRENCY: Bath (THB) TIME ZONE: GMT No 7 Thailand invites you to escape into a world of exotic enchantment and excitement, from the Malaysian peninsula.
    [Show full text]