Home Ground Notions Influencing Foochow And Hokkien Speakers’ Language Use In Kuching, Sarawak

In the past, ethnic groups tend to be concentrated in certain localities and their interactions tend to be within their own group. However, with past migration for educational and career purposes, ethnic groups are now spread all over. Even so, the notion of homeland and home ground are still entrenched in the minds of the people. Specific reference is made to the Chinese sub-groups in Sarawak, and this study focusses on the Foochow whose homeland is Sibu and the Rejang hinterland and the Hokkien whose homeland is Kuching. The study examined the languages used by Foochow and Hokkien speakers in urban Kuching and the reasons for their language choice. A case study was conducted on twenty Chinese residing in Kuching (10 Foochow and 10 Hokkien). The results showed that the Hokkien participants speak Hokkien in the family domain regardless of whether there is intermarriage but the Foochow participants choose Mandarin if their spouse is from other Chinese sub-groups. For interactions with other Chinese, the Hokkien participants’ first choice is Hokkien but the Foochow would only speak Foochow to other Foochow people and use Hokkien and Mandarin with other Chinese. For interethnic interactions, English, Bahasa Melayu and Iban are used. Various reasons for the language choices were reported by the participants but it seems that the most important finding that emerged is that the Chinese sub-groups would speak their dialect only on their “home ground” but when they are on “away ground”, they seek to blend in

Language Attitudes Of Hokkien Speakers Towards Hokkien and Mandarin

The paper examined the attitudes of Hokkien speakers towards their vernacular language and Mandarin. The participants for the study were 50 students at a Malaysian university in Kuching, Sarawak who were of Hokkien parentage and spoke Hokkien. Data collected using the matched-guise technique were analyzed using a paired t-test to investigate whether the participants' attitudes towards these two languages were significantly different. The results showed that Mandarin was ranked significantly higher than Hokkien on both status and solidarity dimensions. The study revealed that, based on the participants' subconscious reactions to selected traits examined in the matched-guise technique, participants with a strong Hokkien identity are likely to perceive Hokkien speakers as less educated, having less leadership skills and more humorous than Mandarin speakers. As a group, the participants were found to have closer affinity to Mandarin speakers. The findings have implications on language maintenance efforts of speech communities concerned with diminished affiliation of the younger generation with vernacular languages