Contemporary Hakka Language Maintenance in Multilingual Penang, Malaysia

Ong, Teresa Wai See

doi:10.15210/rle.v23i4.17267

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Wang's (2016) research, for example, examined language use of a Chinese Catholic community in Balik Pulau which revealed that whilst the senior church members maintained the use of the Hakka language for church services, the same cannot be said for the younger generation who preferred either Mandarin or English for variables including communication, networking, and convenience. Ong (2020b) extends the study of language maintenance among the Hakka community by explaining that while there are efforts of language maintenance through their use at home, with friends and at work, this was true of the older generation who were determined to continue these practices in order to retain forms of ancestry, identity, and culture.…”

Section: Languaging In Penangmentioning

confidence: 85%

Language, Social Networks, and the City

Samuel

Ramakrishna

2021

MJSSH

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Research in Malaysian sociolinguistics has seen much development pertaining to its concerns over language in its multilingual, multiracial, post-colonial community. The majority of existing literature however tends to lean towards traditional ideologies to explicate the language situation and linguistic patterns taking place within society. As influential as they are, there is a growing need for research to extend and move beyond traditional parameters so as to better explicate the roles and values of language in the increasingly mobile, transnational, diverse communities found in the city. This is certainly true in the historical city of George Town, Penang where exists an eclectic mix of heritage and urbanity – a contest for fluid and fixed notions of identity, culture, traditions, and language. One approach which has been used to contribute towards the study of linguistic patterns is Social Network Analysis. A notable application of analysis network structures is attributed to Milroy (1987), where the following has emerged: close-knit and dense networks are resistant to outside influences whereas loose-knit, weaker network links are embracing of change. This paper therefore aims to explain Social Network Analysis as a framework and method, how it has been applied in previous studies, and the potential it holds to analyse language in contemporary, urban communities as is found in cities like George Town, Penang.

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Section: Languaging In Penangmentioning

confidence: 85%

Language, Social Networks, and the City

Samuel

Ramakrishna

2021

MJSSH

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“…This approach highlights that numerous cultures and related languages are effectively preserved and safeguarded by multilayered functional relationships between speakers' communities and the protean quality of language around the globe (Wang, 2021). Haugen highlighted the importance for linguists to adopt a holistic approach to understanding human language, as it is intricately linked to and embedded in historical, social, and political contexts (Ong, 2018).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Study of Yi Minority Language in Mengzi from the Perspective of Eco-Linguistics

Yu,

2023

Acad. J. Interdiscip. Stud.

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The Yi language is a unique language spoken by the Yi minority in China. Despite Mengzi City having one of the largest Yi populations in Yunnan Province, there are very few studies about the Yi language from an ecolinguistics perspective in this region. The primary aim of this study is to investigate language competence, language use, and language attitudes among young people aged 14-28 from Mengzi. Fieldwork research was conducted to collect data, which involved administering a series of questionnaires, interviews, and observations with a group of 104 Yi teenagers. Research findings highlighted that the language ecology in the Mengzi region is changing, with the original mother tongue-dominant type gradually shifting toward a Chinese-dominant type. Although 58.6% of participants claimed fluency or semi-fluency in the Yi language, only 18.8% of them could read and write Yi characters. Due to its inferior status in modern society, the use of the Yi language was limited to family and religious domains. Furthermore, although participants showed a positive inclination toward the Yi language, they held a higher regard for the status and function of Chinese (Mandarin). In conclusion, external forces motivating young speakers to shift from their native language to Mandarin encompass social and economic advancement, as well as national language policies. The significance of the study lies in documenting Yi’s mother tongue and its role in raising awareness about the preservation of endangered languages in China. Received: 20 July 2023 / Accepted: 3 October 2023 / Published: 5 November 2023

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“…Hakka is a dialect spoken in Southern China (Lau, 2016;Zhang, 2021). As discussed by Chang, Chang, and Chang (2021), Hakka people also migrate to other countries, so it is spoken in Southeast Asia, such as Malay (Wang, 2017;Liao, 2020;Ong, 2020), Thailand (Wang, 2018;Ungsitipoonporn, 2020), and different regions in Indonesia such as Medan (Nasution & Ayuningtyas, 2020), Aceh (Azeharie, Sari, & Tjhin, 2017;Srimulyani et al, 2018), and Singkawang (Wulandari, 2018). Regarding Aceh Hakka, the dialect focuses on the diasporic Chinese organization of Hakka Banda Aceh (Srimulyani et al, 2018) and the president of Yayasan Hakka Aceh in 2022 that is spoken by around 4.000 overseas Chinese.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovering the Prosodic Domain of Aceh Hakka Tone Sandhi

Lee

Ling

2023

Lingua Cultura

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The research investigated the tonal system of the Hakka dialect spoken in the Aceh province of Indonesia. The aim of the research was twofold. First, it retranscribed the dialect’s tonal inventory and provided a comparison with Meixian Hakka and the inventory found in Chen’s (2007) research. Second, it analyzed the Shang Tone Sandhi Rule (STSR) of the dialect and its prosodic domain. The data were collected with a careful design based on the number of syllables, different prosodic structures, and a variety of tonal combinations. The data were collected from two informants, who were female Hakka native speakers that originated from Banda Aceh, Indonesia. The research used mainly an impressionistic approach with some support from Praat Version 6.2.14 to evaluate the pitch of the tones. As for the research’s transcription, the researchers opt for the simpler yet phonologically distinct three-level height system (H, M, L) rather than the five-pitch category of Chao. The research identifies that there are six tonal values in this dialect. The tonal alternation rule, i.e., STSR, operates in a multisyllabic domain, and only the tone at the end of a domain is intact from tonal alternation. The STSR is not sensitive to the syntactic domain c-command relation of the Direct Reference Hypothesis. It also behaves differently compared to the Guangxing dialect Yangping Tone Sandhi Rule. As for prosody, the hierarchical domain of the rule in Aceh Hakka is bounded within the Utterance (U), which is different from the Yinping tone sandhi domain in Meinong Hakka, in which tone sandhi is blocked by the I domain (intonational phrase domain). Therefore, the researchers postulate that the domain for Aceh Hakka Shang tone sandhi lies in the Utterance (U).

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Contemporary Hakka Language Maintenance in Multilingual Penang, Malaysia

Cited by 4 publications

References 30 publications

Language, Social Networks, and the City

Language, Social Networks, and the City

The Study of Yi Minority Language in Mengzi from the Perspective of Eco-Linguistics

Discovering the Prosodic Domain of Aceh Hakka Tone Sandhi

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