Language Ideologies in Glocal Contexts: A Longitudinal Study of Cantonese-Canadian Families’ Divergent Paths Toward Bidialectalism

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Abstract

Objectives and Perspectives
Recent drastic changes in Canada’s immigration patterns have significantly transformed the linguistic landscapes of Chinese communities in Vancouver and across Canada. Vancouver, used to be nicknamed “Hongcouver” due to the large-influx of Cantonese-speaking immigrants from Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s, is now a favorite destination of mandarin-speaking immigrants from mainland China. According to the 2021 census, Mandarin is now the most widely spoken non-official language at home not only in Vancouver and in British Columbia, but also nationally across Canada (Statistics Canada, 2022). While some believe that Cantonese is “still thriving” despite Mandarin’s growing dominance (Chiang, 2016), others fear that Cantonese is “under threat” in Vancouver (Fong, 2015). Few studies have explored how Chinese-Canadian parents navigate these changing linguistic and political contexts. This mix-methods study fills this gap by investigating 24 Cantonese-speaking Chinese-Canadian parents’ language ideologies toward bidialectalism (a standard language and a variety of the language, i.e., Mandarin and Cantonese) in relation to the two official languages (English and French) in Canada and whether and how their attitudes change over time.

Methods and Data Sources
Data were collected yearly from 2019-2022 by using a home language environment survey (ALEQ) (Paradis et al., 2010) and semi-structured interviews with the 24 parents with children attending kindergarten to grade 2. ALEQ data were analyzed descriptively to understand language choices and engagement activities among the families at home; and parental interviews were analyzed thematically by using open coding and temporal coding methods to identify patterns as well as changes in their attitudes and practices over time (Miles et al., 2020).

Results and Significance
Data analyses revealed that while the majority (85.71%) of the Cantonese-speaking parents prioritized English learning over Chinese; and over 70% of them also believed that Mandarin was more important than Cantonese for their children’s future life and career in the global context. The Cantonese-Mandarin language wars in the local Chinese communities were also evident in two divergent patterns identified in the foal parents’ ideological changes over the three years. The majority of the parents switched from believing Cantonese, as their mother tongue, should be the language that their children “must learn” first (Parent 52) in their first year to attach more importance to children’s Mandarin acquisition because Mandarin “would provide more opportunities in job marketing” (Parent 47) due to their growing awareness of Mandarin as the widely used language in mainland China and globally. Only a very small group of parents experienced an opposite changing pattern in their language ideologies and began to see the significance of Cantonese over Mandarin for their children; and some (i.e., Parent 14) even considered Cantonese as important as English. These changes have also led to significant changes in home language engagement practices, heritage language school experiences, as well as intergenerational interactions and relationships. The findings suggest that parental ideologies toward bidialectalism are complex and must be understood in glocal contexts.

Authors

• Guofang Li, University of British Columbia

• Zhen Lin, University of British Columbia

• Ziwen Mei, University of British Columbia