Organizer: Erenst R. Anip, University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA Discussants: Katsuhiro J. Ota, University of Hawaii, USA; Apay Tang, East-West Center, USA While Mandarin Chinese is now considered a “world language” and heavily emphasized in language teaching arenas, little research has looked at the maintenance of other equally relevant Chineses. This panel purposely chooses to survey: 1) efforts in promoting the learning, teaching, and documentation of non-Mandarin Chineses internationally, 2) triumphs/difficulties each variety has faced, and 3) context-specific instances of maintenance. In looking at local-level processes we can better understand how to bring minoritized varieties forward (Hornberger and King, 1996).
Wu uses Cooper’s (1989) language planning framework for status, acquisition, and corpus planning to discuss obstacles minority language education in Taiwan faces. It examines Hakka parents’ attitudes toward trilingual education (Mandarin, Hakka and English) and highlights the importance of ecological language policies (cf., Hornberger, 2009) that take into account the power relations among languages.
Anip’s case study explores the possibilities of enhancing heritage language maintenance through international collaboration. He demonstrates how an international student, through participation in language documentation activities in an U.S. university, makes a significant contribution to the documentation and revitalization of Thong Boi, a heritage language spoken by some Chinese people in Indonesia.
Leung looks at YouTube videos posted by users who use Hoisan-wa, a variety of Cantonese, and the comments circulating about the videos. The resulting ideologies of language empowerment and pride show why it is necessary to situate and recognize without erasure (cf. Irvine and Gal, 2000) local languages within the arena of Chineses and how technology can aid in this process.
This study adopts a case-study approach to explore the possibilities of enhancing heritage language maintenance through international collaboration. Past studies on heritage languages in America (Compton, 2000) presented how heritage language classes in higher education have become more popular among Asian immigrants. Nevertheless, very few studies have investigated how university initiative projects in the U.S. can have an impact on international students and their community language maintenance back home.
The study focuses on a unique case of a Chinese Indonesian who studies in a U.S. university. He speaks Thong Boi, a Sinitic language closely related to Hakka, spoken in Guangdong Province, PRC. Due to its isolation from the rest of the Hakka communities, Thong Boi has evolved uniquely. However, due to external forces such as migrations, is entering an endangered state with decreasing number of speakers. Our study demonstrates how through participation in language documentation activities offered by Language Documentation Training Center (LDTC) in university, he gradually contributes to the documentation and revitalization of Thong Boi. Descriptive study of the case not only offers a context-sensitive investigation into the challenges but also addresses practical issues on future possibilities, such as available funding and institutional collaboration.
This study presents an innovative example of how international academic initiatives can make a difference locally. Also, by focusing on Thong Boi, a unique language with its cultural origin in China yet bearing Creole-like characteristics, this study unfolds the complexity of the sociolinguistic context and enriches our understanding and research on heritage language development.
Although trilingual education as a field of research has received
growing attention, much research has focused on the arrangements of
three languages in the school system of Europe and little has been
discussed from East Asian contexts. The trilingual education in Taiwan
where pupils are required to learn Mandarin, English, and another
minority language (e.g., Taiwanese, Hakka, or Austronesian languages)
depending on their ancestral backgrounds since 1st grade beginning in
2001 is a special case that deserves more consideration. This paper
uses Cooper’s language planning framework for status planning,
acquisition planning and corpus planning (1989) to discuss obstacles
faced by minority language education in Taiwan. In addition, the paper
shares parental attitudes from the second largest minority group
(i.e., the Hakka-speakers) toward trilingual education in Taiwan and
how they perceive the values of different languages for their children
in future job market. Interview questions are adapted from language
attitude questionnaires in Lasagabaster (2005) and preliminary
analysis indicates that Hakka parents' discussion of Hakka is always
with reference to the more powerful languages in Taiwan (i.e.,
Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English) and the value of Hakka lies only in
cultural maintenance. Hakka speakers have to face not only the menace
of majority language (Mandarin), more powerful minority language
(Taiwanese), but also that represented by a foreign language so
powerful as English nowadays. Hakka parents’ attitude points to the
importance of ecological language policies (c.f., Hornberger, 2009)
that take into account the power relations among languages.
This reflective paper explores some of the language ideologies on the Internet about Hoisan-wa, a variety of Cantonese. Hoisan-wa is one of the languages linking nearly all early Chinese immigrants in the U.S. (Chan, 1981), and its speakers have important histories that deserve to be brought forward to the modern public, as their language backgrounds have not only been slowly erased by other Chineses’ existence in the U.S. (e.g. Standard Cantonese and Mandarin) but they have also been perpetually omitted in research for the last 150 years. Informed by a language ideology framework, this paper looks at three YouTube videos and users’ comments about them. Findings demonstrate a shift in language beliefs about Hoisan-wa as being less of a “harsh-sounding, mere dialect” to more of a public declaration of pride in being speakers or descendants of this language background. These findings have implications for community heritage language teaching as well as the teaching of different varieties of Chinese - not just standard varieties like Mandarin or Cantonese. The author shows why it is absolutely necessary to situate and recognize without erasure (cf. Irvine and Gal, 2000) Hoisan-wa and other local languages within the arena of Chineses as it has direct impact on the prospects of Hoisan-wa language maintenance and how technology can aid in this process.
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