Mother tongue to heritage language metamorphosis: the case of Mandarin Chinese in Canada

V. Makarova, Qin Xiang
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Abstract

Abstract This article compares Mandarin Chinese (MC) proficiencies of bi/multilingual children from immigrant families in Canada (BM) with those of monolingual (bidialectal) children (M) from China across two age groups (5–7 and 10–12). The purpose of the comparison is to identify the threshold of mother tongue to heritage language shift among Canadian bi/multilinguals. The results of bivariate ANOVA analysis of 28 speech parameters in children’s narratives elicited with the help of picture prompts demonstrate significant effects of language and age groups on proficiency parameters as well as interactions between language and age group factors. In the younger age group (5–7), bi/multilinguals proficiency is higher in six parameters, and lower in eight parameters, as compared to monolinguals, i.e., language proficiencies of bi/multilinguals are overall on par with those by monolinguals. By contrast, in the older participant group (10–12), there is a higher number of significant differences between BM and M participants (20 out of 28 parameters), and monolinguals have higher proficiencies in all these parameters. Furthermore, within the language group, cross-age comparisons display a significant improvement in 16 speech parameters for the older monolinguals group as compared to the younger group, but none at all for the bi/multilinguals older versus younger groups. The results suggest that for children from immigrant families in the given location and settings, the threshold of Mandarin Chinese shift from a mother tongue to a heritage language occurs between the ages of 8–9 and is largely completed by the age of 10–12, as evidenced by lack of further development of speech parameters in the 10–12 BM group. These results are explained by the impact of majority language education and other social factors.
母语到传承语的蜕变:以加拿大普通话为例
摘要本文比较了加拿大移民家庭的双语/多语儿童(BM)和中国单语(双方言)儿童(M)在5-7岁和10-12岁两个年龄组的普通话熟练程度。比较的目的是确定加拿大双/多语者母语向传承语转移的阈值。对儿童图片提示叙事中28个言语参数的双变量方差分析结果表明,语言和年龄组对熟练程度参数有显著影响,语言和年龄组因素之间存在交互作用。在较年轻的年龄组(5-7岁)中,与单语者相比,双语/多语熟练程度在6个参数中较高,在8个参数中较低,即双语/多语者的语言熟练程度总体上与单语者相当。相比之下,在年龄较大的参与者组(10-12岁)中,BM和M参与者之间存在更多的显著差异(28个参数中的20个),单语者对所有这些参数的熟练程度更高。此外,在语言组中,跨年龄比较显示,与年轻组相比,老年单语组在16个语音参数上有显着改善,但老年双语/多语组与年轻组相比没有任何改善。结果表明,在特定地区和环境下,来自移民家庭的儿童,普通话从母语转变为传统语言的门槛发生在8-9岁之间,大部分在10-12岁完成,10-12岁的BM组缺乏进一步的语言参数发展。这些结果可以用多数语言教育和其他社会因素的影响来解释。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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