Language choice and language shift in a Chinese community in Britain
The Chinese are the third largest non-indigenous ethnic minority in Britain, but have hitherto figured little in sociolinguistic research. The aim of this thesis is to examine patterns of language choice by three generations of Chinese/English bilingual speakers in the Chinese community on Tyneside in the North East of England. The data for this analysis is collected within a broadly ethnographic framework, with attention to particularly relevant aspects of Chinese culture and informal social organisation. Specific issues investigated in the thesis include: i) degree and patterning of (Chinese/English) bilingualism within the Tyneside Chinese community; ii) strategies whereby people employ two different languages in conversational interaction; .iii) social mechanisms underlying language choice at both the community and interactional level. As well as providing systematic and a substantial amount of empirical data, the thesis aims to develop a social model, utilising the concept of social network, which can account for the relationship between code-switching and language choice by individual speakers, and for the relation of both to the broader social, economic and political context. Thus, while the exposition
Li, Wei
Sociolinguistics
Language choice and language shift in a Chinese community in Britain. The Chinese are the third largest non-indigenous ethnic minority in Britain, but have hitherto figured little in sociolinguistic research. The aim of this thesis is to examine patterns of language choice by three generations of Chinese/English bilingual speakers in the Chinese community on Tyneside in the North East of England. The data for this analysis is collected within a broadly ethnographic framework, with attention to particularly relevant aspects of Chinese culture and informal social organisation. Specific issues investigated in the thesis include: i) degree and patterning of (Chinese/English) bilingualism within the Tyneside Chinese community; ii) strategies whereby people employ two different languages in conversational interaction; .iii) social mechanisms underlying language choice at both the community and interactional level. As well as providing systematic and a substantial amount of empirical data, the thesis aims to develop a social model, utilising the concept of social network, which can account for the relationship between code-switching and language choice by individual speakers, and for the relation of both to the broader social, economic and political context. Thus, while the exposition
language_choice language_shift chinese community britain chinese third large non indigenous ethnic_minority britain hitherto figure little sociolinguistic research aim_examine pattern language_choice three_generation chinese_english bilingual speaker chinese community tyneside north_east_england data_analysis collect within broadly ethnographic framework attention particularly relevant_aspect chinese_culture informal social_organisation specific_issue investigate include degree pattern chinese_english bilingualism within tyneside chinese community strategies whereby people employ two_different language conversational_interaction iii social mechanism underlying language_choice community interactional level well provide_systematic substantial amount empirical_data aim_develop social model utilise concept social_network account relationship code_switching language_choice individual speaker relation broader social_economic_political context thus exposition