Mandarinization and the construction of Chinese ethnicity in Singapore

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Zi-Hao Wong ◽  
Ying-Ying Tan
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Questionnaire Study ◽  
Chinese Ethnicity ◽  
Foreign Standard ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
Language And Ethnicity ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Beliefs And Attitudes ◽  
Instrumental Reasons

Abstract This paper examines the process of Mandarinization in Singapore, and the effects of this process on the construction of Chinese ethnicity in Singapore. It does this through an analysis of official government speeches, followed by a questionnaire study examining the beliefs and attitudes of Chinese Singaporeans toward three varieties of Mandarin-Chinese, as well as Chinese “dialects” and English. The discourse analysis reveals an underlying assertion of a primordial relationship between Mandarin-Chinese and Chinese ethnicity. This, however, is not reflected in the beliefs of Chinese Singaporeans, who value Mandarin-Chinese for mainly instrumental reasons, and associated with a foreign standard. Chinese ethnicity in Singapore is instead constructed through a combination of Mandarin-Chinese, “dialects” and English. Ultimately, such a discrepancy results from Mandrinization’s dependence on an oversimplified understanding of language and ethnicity in Singapore.

Being Chinese in a global context: Linguistic constructions of Chinese ethnicity

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Zi-Hao Wong ◽  
Ying-Ying Tan
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Chinese Populations ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Chinese Ethnicity ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractTo date, there has not been a large corpus of research looking at how different Chinese populations perceive language to be a part of their Chinese ethnicity. Even where this has been done, no attempts have been made to compare these perceptions across Chinese populations of different polities, to see if and how they differ. To fill this gap, this paper examines and compares the relationship between Mandarin-Chinese, “dialects”, and English, and the construction of Chinese ethnicity amongst Chinese Malaysians, Chinese Singaporeans, and Mainland Chinese. It does this through a questionnaire study employing 100 participants from each group, taking into account beliefs about the importance of these languages to the everyday experience of being Chinese, self-declared language proficiency, and self-declared language use. The results of the study suggest that “dialects” are becoming less important to Chinese ethnicity amongst all three groups, particularly amongst Chinese Singaporeans. Meanwhile, English is becoming more important amongst Chinese Malaysians and Chinese Singaporeans, once again particularly amongst the latter. While Chinese Malaysians continue to perceive Mandarin-Chinese as being the language most important to Chinese ethnicity, Chinese Singaporeans’ beliefs reflect English’s dominance over Mandarin-Chinese in nearly every aspect of everyday social life. These findings underscore how Chinese ethnicities in different parts of the world need to be understood on their own terms, and how language can be a vital clue as to how different Chinese ethnicities are constructed in the global context.

scholarly journals Cross-Dialectal Novel Word Learning and Borrowing

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junru Wu ◽  
Wei Zheng ◽  
Mengru Han ◽  
Niels O. Schiller
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Lexical Borrowing ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Short Term Exposure ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Novel Word Learning

The objective of this paper was to study the cognitive processes underlying cross-dialectal novel word borrowing and loanword establishment in a Standard-Chinese-to-Shanghainese (SC-SH) auditory lexical learning and borrowing experiment. To investigate these underlying cognitive processes, SC-SH bi-dialectals were compared with SC monolectals as well as bi-dialectals of SC and other Chinese dialects (OD) to investigate the influence of short-term and long-term linguistic experience. Both comprehension and production borrowings were tested. This study found that early and proficient bi-dialectism, even if it is not directly related to the recipient dialect of lexical borrowing, has a protective effect on the ability of cross-dialectal lexical borrowing in early adulthood. Bi-dialectals tend to add separate lexical representations for incidentally encountered dialectal variants, while monolectals tend to assimilate dialectal variants to standard forms. Bi-dialectals, but not monolectals, use etymologically related morphemes between the source and recipient dialects to create nonce-borrowing compounds. Dialectal variability facilitates lexical borrowing via enriching instead of increasing the short-term lexical experience of learners. The long-term bi-dialectal experience of individuals, as well as their short-term exposure to each specific loanword, may collectively shape the route of lexical evolution of co-evolving linguistic varieties.

scholarly journals Analisis Dialek Mandarin Tiongkok Dan Dialek Mandarin Taiwan Dari Film The Ex-File 3 : The Return Of The Exes (Tiongkok) Dan Film Our Times (Taiwan)

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Amanda ◽  
Anggraeni Anggraeni ◽  
Retno Purnama Irawati ◽  
Ria Riski Marsuki
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
National Language ◽  
Research Results ◽  
The World ◽  
Chinese Dialect ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
Data Source

Bahasa Mandarin merupakan bahasa dengan penutur terbanyak di dunia, termasuk merupakan bahasa nasional yang digunakan di Taiwan. Meskipun berasal dari sumber yang sama yaitu Beifanghua, namun terdapat perbedaan yang dapat dijumpai diantara keduanya terutama pada aspek fonologi dan leksikal. Untuk itu peneliti melakukan penelitian dengan menggunakan sumber data berupa film untuk membahas perbedaan yang ditemukan dalam film tersebut.Tujuan dari penelitian ini yaitu: (1) Mendeskripsikan perbedaan fonologis dialek Mandarin Tiongkok dan dialek Mandarin Taiwan yang ditemukan di dalam film, (2) Mendeskripsikan perbedaan leksikal dialek Mandarin Tiongkok dan dialek Mandarin Taiwan yang ditemukan di dalam film. Hasil penelitian dari total 85 kosa kata data fonologi yang ditemukan dalam film The Ex-File 3 : The Return Of The Exes (Tiongkok) dan film Our Times (Taiwan) ditemukan perubahan konsonan dan nada yang meliputi konsonan zh [tʂ], ch [tʂ‘], sh [ʂ] dimana dialek Mandarin Taiwan pelafalannya menyerupai konsonan z [ts], c [ts‘] dan s [s], perubahan konsonan r [ʐ] menjadi l [l] dan pengurangan konsonan g [k] pada dialek Mandarin Taiwan, serta perubahan nada dimana dialek Mandarin Tiongkok didominasi oleh nada ringan sedangkan dialek Mandarin Taiwan lebih bervariasi tanpa mengubah arti kata.Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world, including the national language spoken in Taiwan. Even though they come from the same source, namely Beifanghua, there are differences that can be found between the two, especially in the phonological and lexical aspects. For this reason, researchers conducted research using a data source in the form of a film to discuss the differences found in the film.The objectives of this study were: (1) Describing the phonological differences between Mandarin Chinese dialects and Mandarin Taiwanese dialects found in the film, (2) Describing the lexical differences between Mandarin Chinese dialects and Mandarin Taiwanese dialects found in the film. The research results from a total of 85 vocabulary words of phonological data found in The Ex-File 3: The Return of the Exes (China) and Our Times (Taiwan) films found changes in consonants and tones including the consonants zh [tʂ], ch [tʂ '], sh [ʂ] where the Chinese Taiwanese dialect is pronounced like the consonant z [ts], c [ts'] and s [s], changes the consonant r [ʐ] to l [l] and the reduction of the consonant g [k] in the dialect Mandarin Taiwan, as well as the change in tone where the Mandarin Chinese dialect is dominated by light tones while the Mandarin Taiwan dialect is more varied without changing the meaning of the word. 

Recent developments in the use of the plural marker men in Modern Standard Chinese in Taiwan

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-98
Author(s):  
Angela Cook
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Written Language ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Variety Show ◽  
Modern Standard

Like any other living language, Mandarin Chinese is continually evolving and being modified in response to both internal and external pressures. These changes have been studied by numerous scholars, who have concentrated mainly on the written language. This paper chooses to explore whether the changes observed, as in the use of the plural marker men, can also be traced in spoken Chinese. For the purposes of studying language change in progress, archived recordings of television broadcasts were used as a source of spoken language samples. This study focuses on the variety of Modern Standard Chinese spoken in Taiwan, as exemplified in a popular Taiwanese variety show over the period 1996 to 2002. The analysis of the data reveals a number of changes in the use of the plural marker men, with some intriguing gender differences and pragmatic nuances.

scholarly journals La influencia de dialectos chinos en el aprendizaje de la pronunciación de español

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danna Chen ◽  
Lili Wang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Contrastive Study ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Native Teachers ◽  
Chinese Dialect ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
Shanghai Dialect ◽  
Los Grupos

Resumen: Este trabajo pretende mostrar la influencia fonológica de los dialectos chinos en el aprendizaje de español tomando el shanghainés como ejemplo. Se hace una comparación entre el inventario consonántico y vocálico, así como la entonación del dialecto shanghainés y del chino mandarín para encontrar las características fonológicas propias del primero que ayudan en el aprendizaje del español. La investigación revela que se facilita la pronunciación de las consonantes oclusivas sonoras y la entonación menos marcada para los hablantes del shanghainés gracias a su dialecto pero no les resultan fáciles los grupos consonánticos ni la vibrante. El gran número de consonantes nasales en el chino mandarín dificulta la distinción entre las sílabas que contienen los sonidos nasales y aquellas sin ellos. Por último, se propone el trabajo colaborativo entre el profesorado nativo y no nativo para emprender una enseñanza fonética correcta y eficaz. Palabras clave: estudio contrastivo, pronunciación de español, dialecto de China, shanghainés Abstract: This paper aims to show the phonological influence of Chinese dialects in Spanish learning Spanish taking Shanghainese as an example. A comparison between the consonantal and vocalic inventory, as well as the intonation of the Shanghai dialect (Shanghainese) and Mandarin Chinese are made to find the phonological characteristics of the Shanghai dialect that contribute to the learning of Spanish. The research reveals that the Shanghai dialect facilitate the learning of the pronunciation of occlusive voiced consonants and the intonation in Spanish, however, like other Mandarin Chinese speakers, the Shanghainese speakers also find it difficult to pronounce the consonant groups and the alveolar trill. The large number of nasal consonants in Mandarin Chinese makes it hard to distinguish between the syllables that contain the nasal sounds and those without them. Finally, the collaborative work between native and non-native teachers is proposed to undertake a correct and effective phonetic teaching. Keywords: contrastive study, Spanish pronunciation, Chinese dialect, Shanghainese

scholarly journals Identical topics in Mandarin Chinese and Shanghainese

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 43-69
Author(s):  
Danqing Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Complete Picture ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
Topic Structure ◽  
It Structure ◽  
Unusual Type

Identical topic (IT henceforth) was previously known as copying topic (Xu & Liu (1998:141-157). It is fully or partially identical to a corresponding element (CE henceforth) occurring in the following part of the clause. Broadly speaking, IT is semantically empty. Being an unusual type of adding, it properly falls into the central concern of this volume. It seems IT can be attested in all Chinese dialects, though the phenomena in question have been poorly documented and have scarcely been studied under a unified category. IT seems to be a better candidate to characterise topic prominent languages than many other topic types including the non-gap topic, which has long been called "Chinese style topic" since Chafe (1976) and has been viewed as a major characteristic of topic prominent languages (e.g., Li & Thompson, 1976, Xu & Langendoen 1985, Gasde 1999). I believe the study of IT structure is necessary to obtain a clearer and more complete picture of topic structure in general. As far as I know, Wu dialects of Chinese, including Shanghainese, are the ones which have the richest IT types and the greatest text frequency of IT. Therefore, this study will be based on both Mandarin and Shanghainese data.  

scholarly journals Why bother maintaining languages?

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Teresa Ong
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Maintenance ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Chinese Dialects

Language maintenance and language shift are vital subfields in sociolinguistics. In Malaysia, past studies have observed a shift from Chinese dialects to Mandarin Chinese in the language use of many young generation Chinese, which has led to the endangerment of some dialects. This situation draws attention to the role and survival of Chinese dialects in Malaysian society, and thereby creates a need to discuss the reasons for maintaining them. However, this is not merely a question of continuing to speak Chinese dialects. More deeply, we need to have conversations about who we are, where our ancestors originated from, and how we can make Chinese dialects more worthwhile for maintenance. This article seeks to elicit support for the language maintenance of small language groups across the globe.

Taalgebruik op de Markt

1980 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 123-142
Author(s):  
M.E. van den Berg
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Fresh Vegetables ◽  
Language Spread ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Second World ◽  
Made In

Modern standard Chinese (MSC) was introduced in Taiwan after the second world war in 1945, when the island once more became part of the Chinese political system. In 1956 the population consisted for 74 per cent of Minnan and for 13 per cent of Hakka. Both are immigrant groups from the Chinese mainland, who have come to Taiwan since the seventeenth century, and speak mutually unintelligible Chinese dialects. The remaining part of the population was formed by Chinese who came to Taiwan after 1945. In order to be able to determine the extent to which MSC has spread in the society unobtrusive observations of language use were made in five markets in Taipei city. Markets in Taiwan are the main channels for the supply of fresh vegetables, fruits, fish and meat, and for that reason considered as suitable places for the study of language spread. The instrument used was a modified version of that developed by Cooper and Carpenter (1976) and by Rosenbaum ä. . (1977). Apart from time, market, enumerator and commodity, the observation categories were interaction type (business transaction, touting, conversation), role of participants in the speech act (salesperson, customer), their age and sex and the language(s) they used for the interaction. MSC is used by both participants roughly equally for business transactions. The salespeople accommodate their language use to that of the customers. As to touting, this tendency is furthermore reflected by a relatively high proportion of MSC in the utterances of the salespeople. Among the customers males use relatively more MSC than females. The same is true for the oldest age group of both sexes. In the older city districts relatively less MSC is used than in the newer districts.

scholarly journals Tianjin Mandarin

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Li ◽  
Yiya Chen ◽  
Ziyu Xiong
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
Chinese Family ◽  
Tone Sandhi ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Younger Generation ◽  
Standard Chinese ◽  
Present Description

Tianjin Mandarin is a member of the northern Mandarin Chinese family (ISO 693-3: [cmn]). It is spoken in the urban areas of the Tianjin Municipality (CN-12) in the People's Republic of China, which is about 120 kilometers to the southeast of Beijing. Existing studies on Tianjin Mandarin have focused mainly on its tonal aspects, especially its intriguing tone sandhi system, with few studies examining the segmental aspects (on tone, see e.g. Li & Liu 1985, Shi 1986, Liu 1993, Lu 1997, Wang & Jiang 1997, Chen 2000, Liu & Gao 2003, Ma 2005, Ma & Jia 2006, Zhang & Liu 2011, Li & Chen 2016; on segmental aspects, see e.g. Han 1993a, b; Wee, Yan & Chen 2005). As also noted in Wee et al. (2005), this is probably due to the similarity in segmental structures between Tianjin Mandarin and Standard Chinese, especially among speakers of the younger generation, and what differentiates the two Mandarin varieties is most notably their tonal systems. The aim of the present description is therefore to provide a systematic phonetic description of both segmental and tonal aspects of Tianjin Mandarin, with main focus on the tonal aspects.

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