Article published in:
Regional Chinese in Contact
Edited by James A. Walker
[Asia-Pacific Language Variation 5:1] 2019
► pp. 50–66

A Chinese Australian family’s language use and attitudes

| The University of Melbourne
This paper presents a qualitative case study of a Chinese Australian family’s multilingual experiences in Melbourne. Couched in the framework of family language policy, I examine language shift patterns and mother tongue attitudes and analyse reasons and consequences. The findings show that the first generation uses Mandarin for general family communication, while relegating regional Chinese to functions that are, typically, private and familial and for use with older generations. The second generation uses English the most. While their Mandarin use is enhanced through community-based schooling and can be activated depending on the communicative environment, regional Chinese does not play an active role. This nested, hierarchical ecology of language shift with two dominant language constellations causes parental confusion about the children’s mother tongue and problematises grandparent-grandchild communication with a possible decrease of family intimacy.
Keywords: language use, language attitudes, family language policy, Chinese Australian
Published online: 13 June 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.18009.hu
References

[ p. 64 ]References

Aronin, Larissa
(2016) Multi-competence and dominant language constellation. In W. Li & V. Cook (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of linguistic multi-competence (pp. 142–163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics
(2017) 2016 census. Retrieved on 03 March 2018, from http://​www​.abs​.gov​.au​/websitedbs​/D3310114​.nsf​/Home​/census
Canagarajah, Suresh A.
(2013) Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. New York: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chan, Bernice
(2018 25 June). With more speakers of Mandarin than Cantonese in Canada now, what future for the southern Chinese dialect there? South China Morning Post. Available from https://​www​.scmp​.com​/lifestyle​/article​/2110338​/more​-speakers​-mandarin​-cantonese​-canada​-now​-what​-future​-southern​-chinese
Chen, Ping
(1999) Modern Chinese: History and sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chua, Catherine S. K., & Baldauf, Richard B.
(2011) Micro language planning. In Eli Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (1st ed., Vol. 2, pp. 935–951). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Clyne, Michael
(1991) Community languages: The Australian experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, Jim
(2001) Bilingual children’s mother tongue: Why is it important for education? Sprogforum, 7(19), 15–20.Google Scholar
Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao L.
(2003) Growing up in three languages: Triliteracy practices of Chinese immigrant children in Quebec. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
(2012) Private language management in Singapore: Which language to practice and how? In Alexander S. Yeung, Elinor L. Brown, & Cynthia Lee (Eds.), Communication and language: Surmounting barriers to cross-cultural understanding (pp. 55–77). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar
(2013) Family language policy: Sociopolitical reality versus linguistic continuity. Language Policy, 12(1), 1–6. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
De Houwer, Annick, & Bornstein, Marc H.
(2016) Bilingual mothers’ language choice in child-directed speech: Continuity and change. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(7), 680–693. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Department of Education and Training Victoria
(2018) Community language schools. Retrieved on February 1, 2018, from http://​www​.education​.vic​.gov​.au​/school​/teachers​/teachingresources​/discipline​/languages​/Pages​/clsschools​.aspx
Feng, Ai Z.
(1993) Fuqing fangyan yanjiu [A study of Fuqing dialects]. Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fillmore, Lily W.
(2000) Loss of family languages: Should educators be concerned? Theory into Practice, 39(4), 203–210. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fishman, Joshua A.
(1972) Domains and the relationship between micro-and macrosociolinguistics. In John Gumperz & Dell Hymes (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 435–453). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
[ p. 65 ]
Hsieh, Hsiu-Fang, & Shannon, Sarah E.
(2005) Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277–1288. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, David C.
(2013) Language policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Paul
(2001) Chinese in modern Australia. In James Jupp (Ed.), The Australian people: An encyclopedia of the nation, its people and their origins (2 ed., pp. 215–221). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(2008) Chinese sojourners, immigrants and settlers in Victoria: An overview. Sydney: Board of Studies NSW. Available from http://​www​.multiculturalaustralia​.edu​.au​/doc​/Jones​_ChinOverview​.pdf
Lo Bianco, Joseph
(2007) Emergent China and Chinese: Language planning categories. Language Policy, 6(1), 3–26. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lo Bianco, Joseph, & Aliani, Renata
(2013) Language planning and student experiences: Intention, rhetoric and implementation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mayring, Phillip
(2014) Qualitative content analysis: Theoretical foundation, basic procedures and software solution, retrieved on 15 June 2018, from http://​nbn​-resolving​.de​/urn:nbn:de:0168​-ssoar​-395173
Norman, Jerry
(1988) Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Patton, Michael Q.
(2002) Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Ricento, Thomas K., & Hornberger, Nancy H.
(1996) Unpeeling the onion: Language planning and policy and the ELT professional. TESOL Quarterly, 30(3), 401–427. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Scrimgeour, Andrew
(2014) Dealing with ‘Chinese Fever’: The challenge of Chinese teaching in the Australian classroom. In Neil Murray & Angela Scarino (Eds.), Dynamic ecologies: A relational perspective on languages education in the Asia-Pacific region (pp. 151–167). Dordrecht: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Simons, Gary F., & Fennig, Charles D.
(Eds.) (2018) Ethnologue: Languages of the world (21st edition). Dallas: SIL International.Google Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove
(1981) Bilingualism or not: The education of minorities. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Spolsky, Bernard
(2004) Language policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(2012a) What is language policy? In Bernard Spolsky (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of language policy (pp. 3–15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2012b) Family language policy – the critical domain. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(1), 3–11. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Sing-Wu
(2001) Chinese immigration 1840s–1890s. In James Jupp (Ed.), The Australian people: An encyclopedia of the nation, its people and their origins (2nd ed., pp. 197–204). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yates, Lynda, & Terraschke, Agnes
(2013) Love, language and little ones: Successes and stresses for mothers raising bilingual children in exogamous relationships. In Mila Schwartz & Anna Verschik (Eds.), Successful family language policy: Parents, children and educators in interaction (pp. 105–125). Dordrecht: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
[ p. 66 ]