Chinese identities in multilingual Malaysia
Background. Malaysia is a multilingual country with a rich linguistic diversity both on the level of four standard languages and even more spoken vernaculars including two Creoles. Material & method. This paper discusses the linguistic situation of Malaysia from the viewpoint of ethnic Hakka Chi...
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Veröffentlicht in: | GLS: Grazer Linguistische Studien 2018-04 (89), p.35 |
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Hauptverfasser: | , |
Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Background. Malaysia is a multilingual country with a rich linguistic diversity both on the level of four standard languages and even more spoken vernaculars including two Creoles. Material & method. This paper discusses the linguistic situation of Malaysia from the viewpoint of ethnic Hakka Chinese. Analysis. Speakers acquire their family language and other Chinese languages, Mandarin, Malay, English, Malaysian English, and Bahasa Pasar from early on. Education in Mandarin diminishes the use of the family language; today, children often grow up with Mandarin as their first language, but eventually pick up the family language to some degree. Malaysian English has high prestige, providing a supra-national identity. Conclusions. Ethnic Chinese Malaysians have a layered identity based on ancestry, Chineseness, and Malaysian citizenship. Linguistically, this is reflected in the use of the family language, the adherence to standard Chinese, and (Malaysian) English, but the attitude is mainly practical. The smaller Chinese languages are used for family, friends and business contacts. Bahasa Pasar, Malay and English (including Malaysian English) serve interethnic communication. Spoken language choice (including loanword use and code-switching) depends on the speech act participants and the actual situation; this leads to a situation in which various languages share resources which can be used interchangeably among these languages. |
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ISSN: | 1015-0498 |
DOI: | 10.25364/04.45:2018.89.3 |