TEOCHEW DIALECT: A CASE OF LANGUAGE SHIFT.

Abstract

This paper looks into the language shift of Teochew, a dialect of the minority Chinese community in Klang, Malaysia. The aim of this research is to rationalise the language shift of Teochew to other Chinese languages, such as Mandarin. Two theoretical frameworks guided the methodology; that is, a) the linguistic variation framework, and b) the “acts of identity” framework. A combination of both of these frameworks enabled the scrutiny of external and the internal forces that caused the linguistics variation, and the identification of the attitudes of the younger generation of Teochew speakers towards Teochew. Findings indicated that the younger generation of Teochew speakers in Klang is indeed participating in the process of language shift from Teochew to Mandarin, and they displayed more negative attitudes than positive ones towards Teochew. Although they do not look highly upon their native language, they still think that knowing their native language is important. External factors, such as the demographic factors and the mass media too contributed to the rate of the language shift.