Southern Min (Hokkien) as a Migrating Language: A Comparative Study of Language Shift and Maintenance Across National Borders

118 Pages·2016·3.22 MB·English

by  Picus Sizhi Ding (auth.)

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN LINGUISTICS
Picus Sizhi Ding
Southern Min
(Hokkien) as a
Migrating Language
A Comparative Study
of Language Shift and
Maintenance Across
National Borders
123
SpringerBriefs in Linguistics
Series editor
Helen Aristar-Dry, Linguist List, Ypsilanti, MI, USA
and Dripping Springs, TX, USA
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/11940
Picus Sizhi Ding
Southern Min (Hokkien)
as a Migrating Language
A Comparative Study of Language Shift
and Maintenance Across National Borders
123
Picus Sizhi Ding
Pokfulam
Hong Kong
ISSN 2197-0009 ISSN 2197-0017 (electronic)
SpringerBriefs inLinguistics
ISBN978-981-287-593-8 ISBN978-981-287-594-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-287-594-5
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015949453
SpringerSingaporeHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
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This book is dedicated to my mother,
Tan Phay Eng, a woman short in stature
but brave in heart, from whom I have learned
and appreciated the beauty of Hokkien.
Preface
My path to linguistics is inspired by my own rich linguistic experiences, having
been born to a Hokkien-speaking family in Burma and raised in
Cantonese-speaking Macao. Since my early days of majoring in linguistics, I have
always been thinking of doing some research on, or related to, languages that
formed part of my growing up experience. When I first applied to graduate school
for my M.A. study, I tried to come up with such a proposal, but failed.
Later on my field trips to Yunnan around the mid-1990s, when I observed
language shift from Prinmi (a Tibeto–Burman language of southwestern China) to
Mandarin,Ihadadéjàvufeeling.Ihavewitnessedlanguageshiftinmyownfamily
thathappenedyearsago.Theshiftfromaminoritylanguage,eitheranethnicoran
immigrantlanguage,tothedominantlanguageofsocietyhencecaughtmoreofmy
attention. Sociolinguistically speaking, an immigrant language is much like an
ethnic minority language when it is relocated to a new land, where the majority
speaks a different language; it does not matter how many native speakers the
immigrantlanguagehasbackinthehomeland. Formore onthisviewandrelevant
issues, the reader is referred to Education in Languages of Lesser Power:
Asia-Pacific Perspectives, edited by Craig Volker and Fred Anderson.
I am very glad that I finally have this opportunity to achieve the goal of con-
ducting research related to my personal experiences. The kind of ethnolinguistic
data presented in this book, especially that involving language use in the family
history, does not come by easily. It is accessible to me mainly because it concerns
mepersonally,anargumentIadvancedtoconvincesomeelderlyfamiliestorecount
decades-long ‘trivial’ details. I am grateful to them for sharing with me the early
historyofthefamilyandmylife.Throughthewritingofthisbook,whichtookme
back to the Hokkien community in Rangoon more than half a century ago, I have
understood much more the hardship endured by my grandparents’ and parents’
generations.
As this book looks beyond the Hokkien community in Rangoon, a journey is
made to Singapore, Taiwan, and eventually southern Fujian, the homeland of
Hokkien. These are the places that I have some direct knowledge about the use of
vii
viii Preface
Hokkienvia my observation in the past three decades. This span of time, aided by
recent field trips to Singapore, Kaohsiung, Taichung, Xiamen, and Zhangzhou,
enables me to examine the gradually proceeding language shift from Hokkien to
otherlanguagesintheseplaces.TheYoungestChildModel,originallyproposedfor
languageshiftwithintheimmigrantfamily,hasturnedouttoholdawiderscopeof
application beyond the family domain. It is employed in discussing various situa-
tions of language shift in Singapore, Taiwan, and southern Fujian.
I must express my special thanks to Mrs. Lam, the mother of my best
Singaporean friend. This septuagenarian speaks perfect Hokkien, even though she
hasno familialconnectiontosouthernFujian. The vivid memory ofherchildhood
lifehassubstantiallyinformedmeaboutsociolinguisticsettingsofoverseasChinese
in colonial Singapore.
IwouldalsoliketothankRoselleDobbsforhercarefulproofreadingofanearly
draft of the first three chapters. Her comments have significantly improved the
readabilityofthesechapters.Likewise,JaminPelkeyhasofferedhiskindassistance
to polish up the English style in Chap. 4. Moreover, my gratitude goes to two
anonymousreviewers;theirinsightfulandcriticalcommentsandsuggestionsonthe
manuscripthavehelpedmetoclarifythosepointsmadevaguelyintheearlierdraft.
Ofcourse,Ialonetakeresponsibilityforanyresidualerrorsandproblemsthatmay
exist in this book.
Finally, I thank the editorial team of Springer for their patience and colleagues
who have generously granted me permissions to reproduce illustrations adapted
from their publications.
Hong Kong Picus Sizhi Ding
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Motivation for the Present Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Brief Description of Southern Min (Hokkien). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Southeast Asian Hokkien. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.4 The Scale of Language Functionality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.5 Methodology: A Direct Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6 Limitations of This Study. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.7 Structure of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.8 Notes on Basic Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2 Multilingualism in a Drifting Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1 Ethnic Chinese in Burma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2 The Overall Migration History of a Hokkien Family . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3 Source of Data and Scale of Language Competence . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4 From Fujian to Burma: The First Emigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5 From Rangoon to Macao: Emigration
of the Eldest Daughter’s Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.6 From Rangoon to San Francisco: Emigration
of the Eldest Son’s Family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7 Multilingualism as a Result of Immigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.8 The Youngest Child Model: Hokkien as a Legacy
of Drifting Families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3 The Rise and Fall of Hokkien in Singapore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.1 The Glorious Days of Hokkien in Singapore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.2 Effects of Language Policy: The Speak Mandarin Campaign . . . . 43
3.3 Bilingualism in the New Generations of Hokkien
Singaporeans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.4 The Current Status of Hokkien in Singapore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
ix
x Contents
3.5 The Youngest Child Model for Understanding Language
Shift from Hokkien to Mandarin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4 Taiwan: The Haven for Southern Min? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.1 The Spread of Southern Min from Fujian to Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2 Loss of Dominant Status to Japanese (1895–1945) . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.3 Loss of Dominant Status to Mandarin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4.4 Southern Min in Modern Taiwan Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4.5 Decline of Southern Min in the Younger Generation. . . . . . . . . . 70
4.6 Explaining the Regional Decline of Southern Min
with the Youngest Child Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
5 The Fate of Hokkien in Its Homeland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.1 Use of Hokkien in Southern Fujian Prior to the 20th Century . . . . 77
5.2 The Status of Hokkien After the Launch of National
Language Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.3 From Amoy to Xiamen: A Case of Language Shift. . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.4 Hokkien as an Endangered Topolect Under Transitional
Bilingualism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5.5 The Future of Hokkien in Its Homeland in Light
of the Youngest Child Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6.1 The Changing Ecology of Southern Min . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
6.2 Understanding Language Shift Using the Youngest
Child Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Index to Proper Names and Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
103
Index to General Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
107