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Problematizing the Monolingual Norm in a Multidialectal City

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Language Attitudes and Identities in Multilingual China

Abstract

This chapter further reflects on the questions that Chap. 4 tried to answer: How to perceive the relationship between one’s regional identity and one’s linguistic repertoire? How should the native speakers in the multidialectal city of Guangzhou speak? Attitude towards their mother tongues and mother tongue proficiency is a discursive tool with which they position themselves when dealing with these issues. In this chapter, we will discuss the positions of two seemingly distinct groups: the Putonghua-D1 students and the Cantonese-L1 students, and try to discern the implications on identities in a changing multidialectal city.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In diasporic Chinese communities overseas, however, Putonghua is constructed as the tool that signifies and provides access to Pan-Chinese culture and identity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Sihua (斯华) Liang (梁)

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  1. Sihua (斯华) Liang (梁)
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Correspondence to Sihua (斯华) Liang (梁) .

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Liang (梁), S. (2015). Problematizing the Monolingual Norm in a Multidialectal City. In: Language Attitudes and Identities in Multilingual China. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12619-7_9

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