Multilingualism in Greater China and the Chinese Language Diaspora

Abstract

Being a native speaker of Cantonese, he developed a keen interest in foreign language learning from a very young age. His research interests are mainly related to social aspects of language use in multilingual settings. He has published in World Englishes and 'Hongkong English', code-switching in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and EFL learners' learning difficulties and error-correction strategies. 2Chinese language, in its multifarious dialectal forms, has the largest number of speakers in the world. By default, the term 'Chinese' refers to the largest ethnic group, the Han, who compose about 92 percent of the total population in Mainland China (National Bureau of Statistics of China 2011). The remaining eight percent (about 90 million) is comprised of dozens of mainly distinct ethnic groupsshaoshu minzu or 'minority nationalities'. The distribution of population is very uneven. The overwhelming majority of the population live in the plains roughly in the eastern half of the country, while the minority nationalities mainly inhabit the border regions. The linguistic diversity and sociolinguistic complexity in China is discussed in various literature (e.g.

Task Sensitivity in L2 English Speakers’ Syntactic Processing: Evidence for Good-Enough Processing in Self-Paced Reading

“…Where their home language was not Mandarin, they either spoke Cantonese (7 participants) or another regional dialect (e.g., Henan dialect, Sichuan dialect). While the Chinese dialects (including Cantonese) vary in tones, vocabulary and syntax, they are believed to have evolved from the same language (Lee and Li, 2013).…”

Variations in Bilingual Processing of Positive and Negative Information

“…They all fall into the category of 'early bilinguals' as English (L2) was acquired prior the age of seven [58]. According to the Pre-primary Curriculum issued by the Hong Kong Education Bureau in 2006, the learning objectives for children in Hong Kong aged 2-6 were to develop an interest in learning English along with Chinese.…”

“…According to the Pre-primary Curriculum issued by the Hong Kong Education Bureau in 2006, the learning objectives for children in Hong Kong aged 2-6 were to develop an interest in learning English along with Chinese. The curriculum in English development includes listening and reading English stories and nursery rhymes, recognizing and making use of English vocabulary in everyday life, and understanding simple English conversation [59] [58]. Bilinguals in the current study grew up with this curriculum and have learnt English as early as Kindergarten at aged 3.…”

Η Συμπερίληψη Των Μαθητών Κινεζικής Καταγωγής Στο Ελληνικό Σχολείο

“…Με αυτό τον τρόπο η «Αειφόρος Πολιτισμική Συμπερίληψη στην εκπαίδευση» θα διευκολύνει τη διέλευση προς τη μετα-υλιστική εποχή, όπου οι αξίες θα υπερτερούν των συμφερόντων. (Lee & Li, 2013 (OECD, 2009). Όπως επισημαίνει η Yang (2012), στη βάση της αποκέντρωσης των διοικητικών και οικονομικών ευθυνών από την κεντρική κυβέρνηση υπάρχουν και οι τοπικές κυβερνήσεις οι οποίες αποτελούνται από τέσσερα υποεπίπεδα: επαρχία (αποτελεί το υψηλότερο τοπικό επίπεδο), πόλη ή νομός, περιφέρεια ή δήμος και χωριό.…”

“…Αποτελεί το μέσο διδασκαλίας στα περισσότερα σχολεία των αστικών περιοχών. Είναι αξιοσημείωτο ότι για τους δημόσιους υπαλλήλους και ιδιαίτερα τους εκπαιδευτικούς, η επιτυχής εξέταση στη γλώσσα Putonghua αποτελεί βασικό μέρος των επαγγελματικών τους προσόντων (Lee & Li, 2013).…”