What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both

Qiaoling Wu; Xiaoqiong Hu

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11

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What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both

Qiaoling Wu, Xiaoqiong Hu

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 2, Issue 4)

Received: 22 May 2014 Accepted: 27 June 2014 Published: 10 July 2014

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Abstract

Children’s language acquisition is usually significantly influenced by their parents’ attitude towards a certain language. This paper attempts to investigate Chinese parents’ views regarding what language(s) their children should speak: Mandarin, dialect or both, as well as the reasons for their opinions. The research is mainly carried out through questionnaires targeted at Chinese parents of young children. It is shown that parents give different degrees of preference to Mandarin and Chinese dialect which are thus spoken at different frequencies. Mandarin, as the standard form of Chinese, is reckoned as much more useful and as a marker of being better educated, so it is vigorously advocated as the first language children are expected to acquire. It can largely account for why most children of the new generation are not able to speak any Chinese dialect. Even so, more than half of the parents investigated still consider speaking dialect to be essential due to its particular superiority in expressing friendliness and transmitting traditional culture. Based on the research findings, we tentatively conclude that most parents, faced with what language a child should acquire as the first language, generally attach more importance to the function of a certain language. However, both Mandarin and dialect need to be spoken for the sake of maintaining individual identity as well as cultural prosperity.

Published in	International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 2, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11
Page(s)	246-251
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Mandarin, Chinese Dialect, Language Attitude, Language Use, Parents, Children

References

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APA Style

Qiaoling Wu, Xiaoqiong Hu. (2014). What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(4), 246-251. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11

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ACS Style

Qiaoling Wu; Xiaoqiong Hu. What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2014, 2(4), 246-251. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11

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AMA Style

Qiaoling Wu, Xiaoqiong Hu. What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both. Int J Lang Linguist. 2014;2(4):246-251. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11,
  author = {Qiaoling Wu and Xiaoqiong Hu},
  title = {What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {2},
  number = {4},
  pages = {246-251},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20140204.11},
  abstract = {Children’s language acquisition is usually significantly influenced by their parents’ attitude towards a certain language. This paper attempts to investigate Chinese parents’ views regarding what language(s) their children should speak: Mandarin, dialect or both, as well as the reasons for their opinions. The research is mainly carried out through questionnaires targeted at Chinese parents of young children. It is shown that parents give different degrees of preference to Mandarin and Chinese dialect which are thus spoken at different frequencies. Mandarin, as the standard form of Chinese, is reckoned as much more useful and as a marker of being better educated, so it is vigorously advocated as the first language children are expected to acquire. It can largely account for why most children of the new generation are not able to speak any Chinese dialect. Even so, more than half of the parents investigated still consider speaking dialect to be essential due to its particular superiority in expressing friendliness and transmitting traditional culture. Based on the research findings, we tentatively conclude that most parents, faced with what language a child should acquire as the first language, generally attach more importance to the function of a certain language. However, both Mandarin and dialect need to be spoken for the sake of maintaining individual identity as well as cultural prosperity.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both
AU  - Qiaoling Wu
AU  - Xiaoqiong Hu
Y1  - 2014/07/10
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 246
EP  - 251
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11
AB  - Children’s language acquisition is usually significantly influenced by their parents’ attitude towards a certain language. This paper attempts to investigate Chinese parents’ views regarding what language(s) their children should speak: Mandarin, dialect or both, as well as the reasons for their opinions. The research is mainly carried out through questionnaires targeted at Chinese parents of young children. It is shown that parents give different degrees of preference to Mandarin and Chinese dialect which are thus spoken at different frequencies. Mandarin, as the standard form of Chinese, is reckoned as much more useful and as a marker of being better educated, so it is vigorously advocated as the first language children are expected to acquire. It can largely account for why most children of the new generation are not able to speak any Chinese dialect. Even so, more than half of the parents investigated still consider speaking dialect to be essential due to its particular superiority in expressing friendliness and transmitting traditional culture. Based on the research findings, we tentatively conclude that most parents, faced with what language a child should acquire as the first language, generally attach more importance to the function of a certain language. However, both Mandarin and dialect need to be spoken for the sake of maintaining individual identity as well as cultural prosperity.
VL  - 2
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Author Information

Qiaoling Wu

College of Foreign Languages, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, China
Xiaoqiong Hu

College of Foreign Languages, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, China

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Qiaoling Wu, Xiaoqiong Hu. (2014). What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(4), 246-251. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11

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ACS Style

Qiaoling Wu; Xiaoqiong Hu. What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2014, 2(4), 246-251. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Qiaoling Wu, Xiaoqiong Hu. What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both. Int J Lang Linguist. 2014;2(4):246-251. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11,
  author = {Qiaoling Wu and Xiaoqiong Hu},
  title = {What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both},
  journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
  volume = {2},
  number = {4},
  pages = {246-251},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20140204.11},
  abstract = {Children’s language acquisition is usually significantly influenced by their parents’ attitude towards a certain language. This paper attempts to investigate Chinese parents’ views regarding what language(s) their children should speak: Mandarin, dialect or both, as well as the reasons for their opinions. The research is mainly carried out through questionnaires targeted at Chinese parents of young children. It is shown that parents give different degrees of preference to Mandarin and Chinese dialect which are thus spoken at different frequencies. Mandarin, as the standard form of Chinese, is reckoned as much more useful and as a marker of being better educated, so it is vigorously advocated as the first language children are expected to acquire. It can largely account for why most children of the new generation are not able to speak any Chinese dialect. Even so, more than half of the parents investigated still consider speaking dialect to be essential due to its particular superiority in expressing friendliness and transmitting traditional culture. Based on the research findings, we tentatively conclude that most parents, faced with what language a child should acquire as the first language, generally attach more importance to the function of a certain language. However, both Mandarin and dialect need to be spoken for the sake of maintaining individual identity as well as cultural prosperity.},
 year = {2014}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - What Language (s) Should a Chinese Child Speak: Mandarin or Dialect or Both
AU  - Qiaoling Wu
AU  - Xiaoqiong Hu
Y1  - 2014/07/10
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11
T2  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
SP  - 246
EP  - 251
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-0221
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.11
AB  - Children’s language acquisition is usually significantly influenced by their parents’ attitude towards a certain language. This paper attempts to investigate Chinese parents’ views regarding what language(s) their children should speak: Mandarin, dialect or both, as well as the reasons for their opinions. The research is mainly carried out through questionnaires targeted at Chinese parents of young children. It is shown that parents give different degrees of preference to Mandarin and Chinese dialect which are thus spoken at different frequencies. Mandarin, as the standard form of Chinese, is reckoned as much more useful and as a marker of being better educated, so it is vigorously advocated as the first language children are expected to acquire. It can largely account for why most children of the new generation are not able to speak any Chinese dialect. Even so, more than half of the parents investigated still consider speaking dialect to be essential due to its particular superiority in expressing friendliness and transmitting traditional culture. Based on the research findings, we tentatively conclude that most parents, faced with what language a child should acquire as the first language, generally attach more importance to the function of a certain language. However, both Mandarin and dialect need to be spoken for the sake of maintaining individual identity as well as cultural prosperity.
VL  - 2
IS  - 4
ER  -

Copy | Download