Selective Language Maintenance in Multilingual Malaysia

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Author(s): Teresa Wai See Ong (Griffith University, Australia)and Selim Ben Said (National Sun Yat-Sen University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
Copyright: 2021
Pages: 22
Source title: Indigenous Language Acquisition, Maintenance, and Loss and Current Language Policies
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Toru Okamura (Komatsu University, Japan)and Masumi Kai (University of Guam, Guam)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-2959-1.ch009

Keywords: Information Science Reference / Linguistics / Literacy and Language Studies / Media & Communications

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Abstract

Aiming to understand the phenomena of language maintenance and shift in Malaysia, this chapter focuses on efforts by Penang's Chinese community to maintain Penang Hokkien alongside other Chinese community languages. The Malaysian Government has explicitly allowed the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in Chinese-medium schools, which resulted in the reduced use of Penang Hokkien and other Chinese community languages among the Malaysian Chinese community. Such a situation has caused sociolinguistic realignment in many Malaysian Chinese families, including in Penang, and raised questions about the survival of these languages in Malaysian society. Based on interviews with participants from Penang's Chinese community, the findings reveal that although past studies have demonstrated a decline in the use of Chinese community languages, the participants expressed their willingness to regularly use them in their daily life in various domains. Despite the announced desuetude of these languages, participants consistently used them and indicated their determination to pass on to the next generation.

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Selective Language Maintenance in Multilingual Malaysia

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