This paper sets out to exemplify the hierarchy of the factors of population, status, settlement mode, and institutional support in the language maintenance and language shift (LMLS) process across various dialect speaking groups in the Malaysian Chinese (speech) community in Kuala Lumpur. It furthermore presents a hierarchical LMLS model, based on the examination of the retrogression of language proficiency, disruption of intergenerational transmission and decay of language use in public contexts.