Topolects in Motion: Narrative Possibilities for Language Vitality among Mobile Chinese-Canadians

Abstract

This article examines the language autobiographies of 12 Chinese-Canadians to address how topolects (Ch. fangyan)—spoken language varieties marking place-based belonging—formulate identity once removed from their original places. We found that narrators located topolects in their pasts and homelands, while associating standard Mandarin with mobility and the future. We argue that, by associating topolects and standard Mandarin with contrasting times and places, narrators reformatted prevailing standard language ideologies from mainland China to rationalize experiences of linguistic exclusion. Despite pressures for language standardization, the narrative grounding of topolects in kinship chronotopes offers possibilities for maintaining diverse Chinese languages amidst mobility.