Why bother maintaining languages? : A discussion based on diminishing Chinese dialects in Malaysia
Ong, T. W. S. (2020). Why bother maintaining languages? : A discussion based on diminishing Chinese dialects in Malaysia. Apples : Journal of Applied Language Studies, 14 (1), 1-5. doi: 10.17011/apples/urn.202001171301
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Apples : Journal of Applied Language StudiesAuthors
Date
2020Copyright
© The author, 2019
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.