"What I want to do I do not do": on bi- and multilingual repertoires and linguistic dislocation in a border town
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2023
Abstract
Language problems and language barriers are challenges facing not only immigrants but also minorities and people in rural/semirural areas. This study examines individuals' bi- and multilingual repertoires, language practices and attitudes in a Hokkien-speaking community in Kangar, a semirural town of northern Malaysia bordering Thailand. Through questionnaire surveys and interviews, we investigate how these notions can be used as a means to understand/reflect bilingualism and multilingualism and, more importantly, the potential disparity between what people want to do/say and what people eventually manage to do/say. While there is a shift in language practice from a local- and ancestral origin-induced pattern towards a more ``global'' and ``pan-Chinese'' paradigm, the findings also reveal the linguistic ``dislocations'' of the Hokkien-speaking community across ALL generations regardless of ethnicity. The language issues in the community reflect-and are likely to be reflections of-society at large. The vast contrast between individual/societal linguistic aspirations and the actual linguistic repertoire/communicative competence among the locals indicates the need to redress an absence of major efforts to close urban-rural/city-town/dominant-dominated social divides across the (language) education landscape at the national level.
Keywords
bi- and multilingualism, language attitude and ideology, language practice, linguistic dislocation, linguistic repertoire
Divisions
FLL
Publication Title
Multilingua-Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication
Volume
42
Issue
3
Publisher
De Gruyter
Publisher Location
GENTHINER STRASSE 13, 10785 BERLIN, GERMANY