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The Roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese Dialects

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The Roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese Dialects 2018 年 2 月 立教女学院短期大学紀要第 49 号（2017）抜刷 Language Use of Chinese Singaporean College Students: The Roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese Dialects 原田 慎一 Shinichi HARADA Language Use of Chinese Singaporean College Students: The Roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese Dialects Shinichi HARADA* Abstract The objectives of the present study are to elucidate the language use of Chinese Singaporean college students and the roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese dialects in their language use. A sociolinguistic survey regarding language choice was conducted in 2016. Participants were 95 Chinese Singaporean students at two universities in Singapore (the number of valid respondents was 83). Based on the results of the survey as well as those of the Singapore censuses from 1980 to 2010, their language use of English, Mandarin, and Chinese dialects was analyzed in order to clarify the roles of the three languages. The findings of the survey show that approximately 60 percent of the respondents spoke English as their mother tongue, and used it more frequently than the other languages in almost all domains. They used Mandarin mainly in the Chinese community, while they used Chinese dialects with their grandparents at home. With regard to the roles of the three languages, currently, English is used in Singapore as an inter- ethnic lingua franca; in contrast, Mandarin is used in the Chinese community as an intra-ethnic lingua franca. English has been replacing Mandarin as the predominant language. Chinese dialects play a limited role in informal situations, and are on the verge of extinction. In conclusion, the transition from a polyglossic society with English, Mandarin, and Chinese dialects, to a diglossic society with English and Mandarin has been clarified. Keywords: Chinese Singaporean, college students, English, Mandarin, Chinese dialects, diglossia, polyglossia, Singapore ＊ Assistant Professor, Department of Contemporary Communication, St. Margaret’s Junior College ─ 1 ─ 立教女学院短期大学紀要 第 49 号（2017） Introduction According to the 2010 census, the population of Singapore reached a total of 3,771,721. Singaporeans mainly comprise three ethnic groups: Chinese (2,793,980, 74.1 percent), Malay (503,868, 13.4 percent), and Indian (348,119, 9.2 percent). Of the total of 2,793,980 Chinese, 1,118,817 (40.0 percent) are Hokkien; 562,139 (20.1 percent) are Teochew; 408,517 (14.6 percent) are Cantonese; 232,914 (8.3 percent) are Hakka; 177,541 (6.4 percent) are Hainanese; 54,233 (1.9 percent) are Foochow; 25,549 (0.9 percent) are Henghua; 22,053 (0.7 percent) are Shanghainese; 16,556 (0.5 percent) are Hockchia; 175,661 (6.3 percent) are other Chinese. The Chinese community in Singapore was a heterogeneous community formed by immigrants and their descendants from mainly the southern provinces in China, speaking various dialects that were mostly mutually unintelligible (Kuo & Chan, 2016). Chinese Singaporeans are known as multilinguals. For example, in the past, most Chinese Singaporeans used to speak Hokkien, Mandarin, and English as well as their mother tongue. However, the results of some surveys indicate that the number of Chinese Singaporeans who do not have a command of Chinese dialects has been increasing. In other words, there is a possibility that Chinese Singaporeans may be becoming bilingual though they were multilingual in the past. Also, the recent census reveals that the younger generations of Chinese Singaporeans speak English as their first language. In particular, this tendency would be applicable to college students, who have more opportunities to speak English than other Chinese Singaporeans. The purpose of this study is to examine the language use of Chinese Singaporean college students and clarify the roles of the three languages. Literature Review The roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese dialects in the language use of Chinese Singaporeans A great number of studies have been conducted on language use over the last 50 years. In this section, the roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese dialects in the language use of Chinese Singaporeans will be reviewed. Table 1 shows the language most frequently spoken at home by Chinese Singaporeans in 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. ─ 2 ─ Language Use of Chinese Singaporean College Students: The Roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese Dialects Table 1 The language most frequently spoken at home by Chinese Singaporeans (percent) 1980 1990 2000 2010 English 7.9 19.3 23.9 32.6 Mandarin 10.2 30.1 45.1 47.7 Chinese dialects 81.4 50.3 30.7 19.2 Source: Singapore Census of Population 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 1971−1980 According to the results of the 1980 census conducted by the Singapore government, Chinese dialects were spoken most frequently at home. It can be explained by the fact that at that time each Chinese dialect group lived separately. For example, the Hokkien group lived in Telok Ayer, whereas the Hainanese lived in Bras Basah. Each dialect group had its own clan associations, which educated group members and helped them to find jobs (Yamashita, 1988). Although some Chinese Singaporeans started to move to housing complexes called HDB (Housing and Development Board) flats, they still used Chinese dialects for everyday conversation. Also, they used English as an inter-ethnic lingua franca when talking with Malays and Indians. In those days, the predominant lingua franca used by most Chinese Singaporeans in the Chinese community was Hokkien. A survey in 1974 showed that 93 percent of the respondents were able to speak Hokkien though only 49 percent of their parents spoke Hokkien as their mother tongue (Platt, 1980). Similarly, another survey conducted by Kuo (1978) indicated that although there were approximately 30 percent of the participants whose mother tongue was Hokkien, 78 percent of them understood the language. It seems right to presume that between 1971 and 1980, Hokkien served as an intra-ethnic lingua franca among Chinese Singaporeans. At that time, Singapore was a polyglossic society where English was H language, used in public places, and Hokkien was M language, used in the Chinese community, while Chinese dialects were L language, used at home (Figure 1). HOME L language: Chinese dialects THE CHIMESE COMMUNITY M language: Hokkien PUBLIC PLACES H language: English 1980 Figure 1 The roles of languages in the language use of Chinese Singaporeans in 1980 ─ 3 ─ 立教女学院短期大学紀要 第 49 号（2017） 1981−1990 The use of Chinese dialects plummeted by as much as 31.1 percent, while Mandarin increased by 19.9 percent and English by 11.4 percent. There are three main reasons for this: the collapse of residential segmentation by the dialect group, bilingual education, and the Speak Mandarin Campaign. Since the Singapore government designated dialect group districts, which were located downtown, as redevelopment areas for modernization, Chinese Singaporeans living there were forced to move out of their districts and live in HDB flats (Noguchi, 1994; Ogi, 1995). The government allocated them HDB flats regardless of dialect groups. As of 1980, 69 percent of Singaporeans lived in HDB flats. At that time, they were taught in English and Mandarin at school, so they had a good command of both languages. Moreover, Chinese dialects disappeared in the mass media such as television and radio, owing to the Speak Mandarin Campaign, which was launched in 1979 to encourage Chinese Singaporeans to speak Mandarin and discourage them from speaking Chinese dialects. These three causes led Chinese Singaporeans to start to use Mandarin and English instead of Hokkien. Similarly, other results demonstrated a considerable increase in the use of Mandarin. According to the results of a survey administered by The Straits Times in 1985, 82 percent of 270 Chinese Singaporeans were able to speak Mandarin and 25 percent talked to their children in Mandarin (Pakir, 1994). In the 1987 survey by The Straits Times, 87 percent of the respondents aged 12 or more spoke Mandarin fluently, and 22 percent of their grandparents spoke Mandarin (ibid). It is plausible to suggest that although Chinese dialects were still the predominant language, Mandarin was taking the place of them as an intra-ethnic lingua franca in those days. 1991−2000 In the last decade of the 20th century, the use of Chinese dialects declined by an additional 19.6 percent; in contrast, the use of Mandarin increased by 15 percent and the use of English rose by 4.6 percent. Nearly half of Chinese Singaporeans most frequently spoke Mandarin at home. This is an indication that Mandarin replaced Chinese dialects as their mother tongue. At the same time, numerous Chinese Singaporeans thought of Mandarin as a language belonging to their identity. For instance, Xu, Chew, and Chen (1998) found in a survey that the majority of Chinese Singaporean respondents felt a closeness toward Mandarin that they did not toward English. The results of surveys by Ohara (2002) in 1992 and 1994 indicated a similar trend. The use of Mandarin spread broadly into the Chinese community; as a consequence, Chinese Singaporeans identified themselves with Mandarin. Because the number of people who used Mandarin as their mother tongue increased, the use of Chinese dialects decreased significantly. In summary, it was ─ 4 ─ Language Use of Chinese Singaporean College Students: The Roles of English, Mandarin, and Chinese Dialects extrapolated from these results that Mandarin superseded Chinese dialects as the predominant language. In those days, Singapore was a polyglossic society where English was H language, used in public places, and Mandarin was M language, used in the Chinese community, whereas Chinese dialects were L language, used at home (Figure 2). Additionally, it can be inferred from these data that the transition from the polyglossic society with English, Mandarin, and Chinese dialects to the diglossic one, was progressing at that time. HOME L language: Chinese dialects THE CHIMESE COMMUNITY M language: Mandarin PUBLIC PLACES H language: English 2000 Figure 2 The roles of languages in the language use of Chinese Singaporeans in 2000 2001−2010 The use of Chinese dialects decreased by 11.5 percent, while the use of English increased by 8.7 percent.
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