The restructuring of a speech community on a foreign land: the Tianjiners in Sabah, Malaysia
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-1-2023
Abstract
This paper focuses on the linguistic evolution of the Tianjin speech community in Sabah, Malaysia. From the perspective of restructuring of speech community, the paper integrates both micro and macro levels of language change into the analysis. Several methods were adopted in this study. Interviews were conducted with community leaders and various families. Besides, an ethnographic approach is taken to observe language use in different activities within the community. In total, 17 Tianjiners were interviewed who were from four generations (G3, G4, G5, and G6) and several community activities were participated. Despite all the social changes within the community, the Tianjin people (also known as northern Chinese) still manifest a strong group identity which differentiate themselves from southern Chinese, such as Hakka in Sabah. The strong group identification goes well with its diversity, which is one of the characteristics of the Tianjin speech community.
Keywords
Speech community, Tianjin dialect, linguistic evolution, Sabah
Divisions
china
Funders
Chinese National Funding of Social Sciences (19ZDA311),Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUMRF/2018-C1/IART/0001)
Publication Title
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Volume
44
Issue
6
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Publisher Location
2-4 PARK SQUARE, MILTON PARK, ABINGDON OX14 4RN, OXON, ENGLAND