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Language attitudes in Guangzhou, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

Ivan Kalmar ,
Zhong Yong  and
Xiao Hong
Ivan Kalmar
Affiliation:
Department of AnthropologyUniversity of Toronto
Zhong Yong
Affiliation:
English DepartmentGuangzhou Foreign Languages Institute
Xiao Hong
Affiliation:
Nanjing University
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Abstract

Cantonese and non-Cantonese students of the Guangzhou (Canton) Foreign Language Institute took part in a matched-guise experiment, expressing judgments about two samples of speech produced by the same person but presented as coming from two different speakers. In one sample the person spoke good Putonghua (Mandarin), in the other a Putonghua heavily influenced by Cantonese. All judges tended to agree that what they thought was the better Putonghua speaker would have a better chance for social advancement. However, Cantonese judges also showed some positive evaluation of a “heavy Cantonese accent” in the sphere of personal empathy. Such empathy was stronger among male than among female Cantonese. Similar attitudes regarding a “high” (Putonghua) and a “low” (Cantonese) variant in a multilingual society are typical for most Western societies that sociolinguists have studied. They now seem to be equally typical for an Oriental, socialist society like that of China. (Chinese dialects, evaluative reactions, comparative sociolinguistics)

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , December 1987 , pp. 499 - 508
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

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