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Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia

Malaysia is a multilingual and multiethnic country with a substantial population of ethnic Chinese, who use standardized languages such as Malay, English, and Mandarin, as well as various Chinese dialects in their daily lives within and beyond Chinese communities. Cantonese is a community language t...

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Main Authors: Zhou, Wei, Ang, Lay Hoon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications 2024
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/113387/1/113387.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/113387/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440241247452
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spelling my.upm.eprints.1133872024-11-22T04:10:52Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/113387/ Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia Zhou, Wei Ang, Lay Hoon Malaysia is a multilingual and multiethnic country with a substantial population of ethnic Chinese, who use standardized languages such as Malay, English, and Mandarin, as well as various Chinese dialects in their daily lives within and beyond Chinese communities. Cantonese is a community language that significantly impacts the lives of local Chinese in the city of Ipoh, Malaysia. This study aims to examine the vitality of Cantonese in Ipoh using the language vitality and endangerment (LVE) tool developed by UNESCO. Nine LVE-proposed factors reflecting the degree of endangerment were investigated. Using a survey method, 377 participants from various groups were randomly selected from the Chinese community in Ipoh, Malaysia during January 6 to February 5, 2022. The result shows that Cantonese in Ipoh is rated as “Unsafe,” indicating that measures should be taken to prevent its further decline. The result suggests that further research is needed to gain a clearer understanding of the factors affecting language shift and maintenance, as well as the potential and challenges of linguistic and cultural diversity in the contemporary world. SAGE Publications 2024 Article PeerReviewed text en cc_by_4 http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/113387/1/113387.pdf Zhou, Wei and Ang, Lay Hoon (2024) Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia. SAGE Open, 14 (2). pp. 1-11. ISSN 2158-2440; eISSN: 2158-2440 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440241247452 10.1177/21582440241247452
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description Malaysia is a multilingual and multiethnic country with a substantial population of ethnic Chinese, who use standardized languages such as Malay, English, and Mandarin, as well as various Chinese dialects in their daily lives within and beyond Chinese communities. Cantonese is a community language that significantly impacts the lives of local Chinese in the city of Ipoh, Malaysia. This study aims to examine the vitality of Cantonese in Ipoh using the language vitality and endangerment (LVE) tool developed by UNESCO. Nine LVE-proposed factors reflecting the degree of endangerment were investigated. Using a survey method, 377 participants from various groups were randomly selected from the Chinese community in Ipoh, Malaysia during January 6 to February 5, 2022. The result shows that Cantonese in Ipoh is rated as “Unsafe,” indicating that measures should be taken to prevent its further decline. The result suggests that further research is needed to gain a clearer understanding of the factors affecting language shift and maintenance, as well as the potential and challenges of linguistic and cultural diversity in the contemporary world.
format Article
author Zhou, Wei
Ang, Lay Hoon
spellingShingle Zhou, Wei
Ang, Lay Hoon
Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia
author_facet Zhou, Wei
Ang, Lay Hoon
author_sort Zhou, Wei
title Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia
title_short Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia
title_full Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia
title_fullStr Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the vitality of a local Chinese community language: Cantonese in Ipoh, Malaysia
title_sort assessing the vitality of a local chinese community language: cantonese in ipoh, malaysia
publisher SAGE Publications
publishDate 2024
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/113387/1/113387.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/113387/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440241247452
_version_ 1817844630451912704
score 13.223943

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