8. Integrating Community Diversity in Toronto: On Whose Terms?

Siemiatycki, Myer; Rees, Tim; Ng, Roxana; Rahi, Khan

doi:10.3138/9781442670259-010

Cited by 16 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…However, there are two crucial differences between these communities. First, their timelines of settlement in the city are different: Italian immigration began in earnest after the Second World War, whereas large-scale Chinese immigration is more recent (Siemiatycki et al, 2003). Thus, it seems that the speakers in the more established community (i.e., the Italians) consider themselves more assimilated or integrated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Ethnolects and the city: Ethnic orientation and linguistic variation in Toronto English

2010

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A B S T R A C TFollowing recent work that questions traditional social categories, this paper examines the role of ethnicity in conditioning linguistic variation. Reporting on a large-scale project in the multicultural context of Toronto, we argue for combining emic and etic approaches to social categorization. Focusing on the Chinese and Italian communities, our analysis of two sociolinguistic variables shows that speakers may vary in overall rate, but linguistic conditioning remains largely constant across and within ethnic groups. Whereas there is evidence for language transfer in the first generation, differences between generations suggest that transfer does not persist. Some speakers appear to use overall rates to express ethnic identity. Differences between communities may be explained in terms of different timelines of settlement and visible-minority status.A fundamental question of sociolinguistics is how social differences among speakers are reflected in their linguistic behavior. In the study of sociolinguistic variation and change, this question has been approached predominantly through "social grouping" (Horvath & Sankoff, 1987:179): that is, assign speakers to previously defined categories, and then correlate those categories with quantitative differences in linguistic behavior. A small set of social categories has been correlated with linguistic variables: sex, age, social class, and ethnicity. All of these categories featured in Labov's pioneering work on Martha's Vineyard (1963) and in New York City (1966) and have been replicated in many studies. As a result, we now have a good descriptive understanding of how each of these categories is implicated in linguistic variation: to Walker. We thank Walt Wolfram, whose invitation to participate in a panel discussion prompted Walker to start thinking systematically about ethnicity (Walker, 2001), our fieldworkers and research assistants for their hard work, Bryn Greer-Wootten for his advice on statistical techniques, and most of all the people of Toronto for sharing their time, reminiscences, opinions, and stories with us. Previous versions of different parts of this paper were presented between 2005 and 2007 at various international conferences. We thank the audiences for their comments and several anonymous reviewers for their feedback. We especially thank Barbara Johnstone for helping to clarify the discussion of the results. Any remaining errors are our own responsibility. Authors' names are listed alphabetically.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Ethnolects and the city: Ethnic orientation and linguistic variation in Toronto English

2010

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“…For example, Toronto now is considered the world's most multiracial city and half of the 2.48 million populations are foreign born (Canada Census, 2006). Some studies also pointed out that the visible minority population has increased threefold in Toronto and Vancouver from 1981 to 2001 (see Siemiatycki, Rees, Ng, & Rahi, 2001). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Hate-Crime Victimization and Fear of Hate Crime Among Racially Visible People in Canada: The Role of Income as a Mediating Factor

Chongatera

2013

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies

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Hate-crime victimization against racially visible people is of growing concern and it raises questions about social cohesion in a multiracial and ethnic democracy such as Canada, particularly among immigrants across the country. Using income as a mediating factor, this article examines hate-crime victimization against visible minority groups in Canada using the Ethnic Diversity Survey. Using multinomial and binary logistic regression, the study describes the likelihood of experiencing hate crime victimization and fear of hate crime. The results indicate that hate crime and fear of hate crime depends on visible minorities' ethnic background, above and beyond their socioeconomic status.

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“…Thus, the experiences of Chinese immigrants in Toronto probably differ from the experiences of Chinese living elsewhere. In Toronto these changes led to increased political power of the Chinese as a group, reflected in increased representation of Chinese people in city government (Siemiatycki et al, 2003). In Toronto these changes led to increased political power of the Chinese as a group, reflected in increased representation of Chinese people in city government (Siemiatycki et al, 2003).…”

Section: Variation In Associations Of Ethnic Concentration With Discrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neighbourhood Ethnic Concentration and Discrimination

2007

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We investigate the association between the residential concentration of Chinese in Toronto and discrimination as experienced and perceived by Chinese immigrant residents. A unique aspect of this study is our focus on perceived employment discrimination. We find that Chinese immigrants living in neighbourhoods with a high concentration of other Chinese residents are more likely to perceive employment discrimination against Chinese people as a group, and are more likely to report exposure to ethnically motivated verbal assault, than are Chinese immigrants living elsewhere. Our results are consistent with studies of other populations. However, we argue that theory and policy related to ethnic concentration and discrimination should recognise that effects of ethnic concentration on discrimination are likely to vary with the ecological setting under investigation (for example, neighbourhoods versus larger areas), as well as by size of locale (city, region, or country), and the ethnic groups involved.We wish to thank Jeffrey Reitz, Lesley Kenny, Sherri Klassen and the reviewers for helpful comments on previous drafts. Notes1 The limitations of theories that address the relationship between ethnic concentration and discrimination reflect a general limitation of sociohistorical theories in sociology (Ley, 2003). The literature on evaluation research (Zucker, 1977) has also addressed the difficulties associated with the application of theory to local-area issues. 2 Kalin (1996) assessed discrimination against Chinese by asking non-Chinese residents to rate how comfortable they would be 'being around' Chinese.

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8. Integrating Community Diversity in Toronto: On Whose Terms?

Cited by 16 publications

References 10 publications

Ethnolects and the city: Ethnic orientation and linguistic variation in Toronto English

Ethnolects and the city: Ethnic orientation and linguistic variation in Toronto English

Hate-Crime Victimization and Fear of Hate Crime Among Racially Visible People in Canada: The Role of Income as a Mediating Factor

Neighbourhood Ethnic Concentration and Discrimination

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