Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin

The paper examined the attitudes of Hokkien speakers towards their vernacular language and Mandarin. The participants for the study were 50 students at a Malaysian university in Kuching, Sarawak who were of Hokkien parentage and spoke Hokkien. Data collected using the matched-guise technique were an...

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Main Authors: Ting, Su Hie, Puah, Yan Yann
Format: Proceeding
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/749/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/749/1/LANGUAGE%20ATTITUDES%20.pdf
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author Ting, Su Hie
Puah, Yan Yann
author_facet Ting, Su Hie
Puah, Yan Yann
author_sort Ting, Su Hie
building UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The paper examined the attitudes of Hokkien speakers towards their vernacular language and Mandarin. The participants for the study were 50 students at a Malaysian university in Kuching, Sarawak who were of Hokkien parentage and spoke Hokkien. Data collected using the matched-guise technique were analyzed using a paired t-test to investigate whether the participants' attitudes towards these two languages were significantly different. The results showed that Mandarin was ranked significantly higher than Hokkien on both status and solidarity dimensions. The study revealed that, based on the participants' subconscious reactions to selected traits examined in the matched-guise technique, participants with a strong Hokkien identity are likely to perceive Hokkien speakers as less educated, having less leadership skills and more humorous than Mandarin speakers. As a group, the participants were found to have closer affinity to Mandarin speakers. The findings have implications on language maintenance efforts of speech communities concerned with diminished affiliation of the younger generation with vernacular languages.
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publishDate 2010
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spelling unimas-7492022-05-13T02:04:48Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/749/ Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin Ting, Su Hie Puah, Yan Yann P Philology. Linguistics The paper examined the attitudes of Hokkien speakers towards their vernacular language and Mandarin. The participants for the study were 50 students at a Malaysian university in Kuching, Sarawak who were of Hokkien parentage and spoke Hokkien. Data collected using the matched-guise technique were analyzed using a paired t-test to investigate whether the participants' attitudes towards these two languages were significantly different. The results showed that Mandarin was ranked significantly higher than Hokkien on both status and solidarity dimensions. The study revealed that, based on the participants' subconscious reactions to selected traits examined in the matched-guise technique, participants with a strong Hokkien identity are likely to perceive Hokkien speakers as less educated, having less leadership skills and more humorous than Mandarin speakers. As a group, the participants were found to have closer affinity to Mandarin speakers. The findings have implications on language maintenance efforts of speech communities concerned with diminished affiliation of the younger generation with vernacular languages. 2010 Proceeding NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/749/1/LANGUAGE%20ATTITUDES%20.pdf Ting, Su Hie and Puah, Yan Yann (2010) Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin. In: Proceedings of Borneo International Conference on Language and Literature (BiCOLL), "Unity in Diversity", 7-9 June 2010, Kuching, Sarawak. (Unpublished)
spellingShingle P Philology. Linguistics
Ting, Su Hie
Puah, Yan Yann
Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin
title Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin
title_full Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin
title_fullStr Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin
title_full_unstemmed Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin
title_short Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin
title_sort language attitudes of hokkien speakers towards hokkien and mandarin
topic P Philology. Linguistics
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/749/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/749/1/LANGUAGE%20ATTITUDES%20.pdf