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Investigating the Language Shift of Chinese

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Investigating the Language Shift of Chinese USP Undergraduate Journal | 20 is not uncommon. !e Joy Luck Club (1993) is a film 7Z^c\8]^cZhZ that was based on Amy Tan’s best selling novel where four Chinese American mother-daughter pairs grap- l^i]djii]Z ple with their individual identities as Chinese and as Americans. In the film, the four daughters understand 8]^cZhZAVc\jV\Z/ Chinese but speak English exclusively, with only June speaking a little Chinese. !e mothers, though, speak >ckZhi^\Vi^c\i]Z a patois of Chinese and English (Heung 1997). As first generation immigrants, they do not speak Eng- AVc\jV\ZH]^[id[ lish well—often omitting auxiliary verbs and making grammatical errors whilst constructing a sentence: 8]^cZhZ>bb^\gVcih when Suyan chides June, “Only two kind of daughters. !ose obedient and those who follow own mind!” (Tan ^cH^c\VedgZVcY 1989). !e same language shift is representative of the Chinese American community in San Francisco and 6bZg^XV is reflected in the four short interviews I conducted in BVcnhZXdcYVcYi]^gY\ZcZgVi^dc the West Coast of America. 8]^cZhZ^bb^\gVciha^k^c\^cH^c" Kelly Wu, 35, Chinese transnational from Beijing \VedgZVcY^c6bZg^XVÒcYi]Zb" who married a Canadian: hZakZhjcVWaZidheZV`i]Z8]^cZhZ aVc\jV\ZÓjZcian#=dlY^Yi]ZaVc" “!e second generation of Chinese immigrants \jV\Zh]^[iVlVn[gdbi]Z8]^cZhZ speaks fluent English and even though they can aVc\jV\ZidlVgYhi]Z:c\a^h]aVc" understand Chinese, they may not necessarily be fluent in it…. the second and third generation \jV\ZV[[ZXii]Z^YZci^i^Zhd[8]^cZhZ might altogether lose the ability to speak Chi- ^bb^\gVcih^ci]ZhZildY^[[ZgZci nese.” \Zdeda^i^XVaXdciZmih4 It is evident that most Chinese who have grown up in America as second generation Chinese immigrants <d]=#H# are unable to speak the Chinese Language fluently. Singapore Dreaming (2006) is a film about a regular wo films, !e Joy Luck Club and Singapore Singaporean family aspiring for material wealth. In- Dreaming shed light on the language situation terestingly, this film illustrates the language situation in overseas Chinese communities. Together in Singapore—a similar shift away from the use of Twith interviews I conducted in the West Coast of other Chinese dialects to Mandarin and a preferential America, they highlight a language shift from Chi- use of English by the younger generation. Anne Pa- nese to English. In each film, representative of the lan- kir attributes this shift from various Chinese dialects guage situation in America and Singapore, an older to Mandarin by Chinese Singaporeans of the older generation of Chinese demonstrates fluency in Chi- generation to the Speak Mandarin Campaign, a cam- nese whilst the younger prefers to use English. Noting paign designed by the Singaporean government that the similarity of the language situation in both coun- encourages Chinese Singaporeans to discard their en- tries, this paper explores the implications of this lan- trenched linguistic behavior for Mandarin (1992). For guage shift and the disjuncture between language and over three decades, this was a successful effort by the a shared ethnic identity. Whilst cinematic discourse government to mould the Chinese population of Sin- and the interviews suggest the dilution of a single gapore into a more manageable, homogenized com- Chinese ethnic identity following a language shift to munity (Pakir 1992). Furthermore, educational policy the English language, this paper explores instead, the in Singapore strives to produce English Knowing Bi- localization of a Chinese identity in the two geopoliti- linguals—bilinguals who are proficient in English as cal contexts by using the theoretical concepts of deter- well as their ethnically-related official language (Tam- ritorialization and consequent reterritorialization. il, Mandarin or Malay) (Pakir 1992). !e two couples, CK and Mei and Irene and Seng, communicate exclu- 8^cZbVi^XY^hXdjghZ/i]ZaVc\jV\Z sively in English even though all are English knowing bilinguals. And although Ma speaks only Hokkien, h]^[id[^bb^\gVci8]^cZhZ Mei and Irene talk to her in Mandarin. Irene and Mei Xdbbjc^i^Zh represent the functional shift away from using Chi- nese dialects other than state-prescribed Mandarin !e inability of Chinese immigrants who grew up when they interact with Ma. outside of Mainland China to speak Chinese fluently In both America and Singapore, we see the younger Volume 1, Issue 1, March 2008 | 21 generation using more English and less Chinese than nomic development and inter-ethnic communication the generation before them. In America, the lack of a (Rappa and Wee 2006). Set in its historical context, we Chinese language policy saw second generation immi- can now see that post independence, bilingualism had grants start to lose their ability to speak Chinese so as a “strong rhetorical resonance” (Chong 2007) with the to assimilate into dominant culture and defend them- ruling party, the People’s Action Party (PAP), because selves from the anti-Chinese movement during the it was founded on the ideology of multiculturalism. era of Chinese Exclusion in America (Wong 1998). In !us, English was chosen as a “neutral” language that Singapore, language policy dictates all ethnic Chinese was neutral amongst the different ethnicities existing to learn Mandarin as a second language in schools. in Singapore for inter-ethnic communication. Also, Although the number of Chinese dialect speakers has Singapore’s expulsion from Malaysia saw the end of a dwindled over the decades, the language shift is “be- potential common market and hinterland whereupon ing made in favor of English rather than Mandarin” Singaporean leaders had to look out of the Southeast (Pakir 1992). !is language shift to English, where Asia region for economic survival (Chong 2007). ethnic Chinese lose the ability to speak the Chinese Naturally, English was chosen as Singapore’s working language, can be conceptualized as a deterritorializa- language due to its pervasiveness in science and tech- tion of Chinese culture. nology as well as the global economy (Rappa and Wee 2006). !e adoption of an English knowing bilingual AVc\jV\Zh]^[iVhYZiZgg^idg^Va^oVi^dc/ policy was, and still remains, an extension of the PAP- state’s multiculturalism and pragmatic ideology. JcYZghiVcY^c\i]ZaVc\jV\Zh]^[i^c ^ihhdX^d"]^hidg^XVaXdciZmi# !e dominance of English as a prestigious lan- guage that can offer social mobility is exemplary in Garcia Canclini (1995) conceptualizes deterritori- Singapore Dreaming (2006). Mei claimed she did not alization in his book, Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for want her baby to be brought up by Ma because she Entering and Leaving Modernity, as “the loss of ‘natu- did not want him learning the Hokkien dialect from ral’ relation of culture to geographical and social ter- her. Instead, she wanted her baby to be brought up by ritories” (229). !is concept of deterritorialization, Pinky, the maid, so that he would be able to pick up where culture and language is no longer tied up to English easily. Similarly, Pinky, a Filipina, also had places we inhabit (Tomlinson 1999), is applicable to to be well versed in English in order to survive and our discussion of language shift. !e shift towards work in Singapore. Mei and Irene also use English English by Chinese immigrants in both America as the language of administration in their workplace. and Singapore can be seen as a deterritorialization of Ma, the only one who is effectively monolingual in identity—there is a loss of ties between ethnic Chi- the film, is unable to speak English. !is meant that nese and the Chinese Language as Chinese culture or she, together with her language, has been relegated to identity. As deterritorialization would almost effect a the domestic realm to fulfill the traditional function consequent reterritorialization, the process of “partial of a Chinese woman. !e rise of English as economi- territorial relocalization of old and new symbolic pro- cally viable, coupled with the success implementation ductions” (Caclini 1995), this paper also investigates of the Speak Mandarin Campaign, rendered dialects localization of the English language in a Chinese real- such as Hokkien and Teochew economically obsolete. ity and the resultant localized or reterritorialized Chi- !ere is a conscious effort by the state and its institu- nese identity in America and Singapore. tions to favor the English Language in instrumentalist terms (Rappa and Wee 2006). In the film, Pa excludes !e language shift of Chinese immigrant commu- Ma from many exchanges with their children when nities towards English as deterritorialization should be he speaks to them in English. !is intergenerational understood in its socio-historical context where it be- discourse gap between Ma and her children is exact- comes apparent that the language shift in Singapore is ing if not painful. Furthermore, English as a presti- relatively more planned and mechanistic as compared gious language was highlighted when Pa was to have to the one in America. !is language shift in Singa- his “Singapore Elite Club” interview in English. Here, pore, unlike that in America, has long been planned a deterritorialization of Chinese culture as a language by her government since Singapore’s independence in shift away from Mandarin and other Chinese dialects 1965. Language policies in Singapore are crafted to to- towards English shape the Chinese Singaporean iden- wards the goal of bilingualism (Pakir 1992) as English tity. is learnt in school as a First Language and an ethnic mother tongue is learnt as a Second Language to “har- !e language shift of the overseas Chinese com- ness distinct cultural values as ‘cultural ballast’” (Lim munity in America towards English, as compared to 1999) as well as to “reinforce the racial categorization Singapore, can be said to be more organic and sponta- and boundary maintenance” (Lim 1999).
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