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Sociolinguistics Lesson 4 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.
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Sociolinguistics Lesson 4 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?
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 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