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Conference Paper: Periphery in the age of reimagining: Vernaculars and vitality in urban multicultural Asia
Title | Periphery in the age of reimagining: Vernaculars and vitality in urban multicultural Asia |
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Authors | |
Issue Date | 2017 |
Citation | 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB11): Bilingualism, Multilingualism, and the New Speaker, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, 11-15 June 2017 How to Cite? |
Abstract | In what is viewed as the second phase of postmodernity, in particular as defined by digitality, we are afforded challenges and opportunities for reimagining communities and vernaculars considered on the periphery. I focus on three ecologies that I suggest need to be appreciated for their significance in the language contact dynamics of this era. First I consider communities for whom computer-mediated communication (CMC) serves as a platform on which language practices beyond those used in the original, local context are widespread, even favoured. With Cantonese-dominant Hongkongers, for example, CMC promotes significantly more mixing with and calqueing into English, compared to spoken discourse – just as diasporic web-based communities of practice use their contact language variety more than in traditional writing or spoken face-to-face interaction. Such CMC practices have the potential to spread to other domains, and impact on the evolution of contact language varieties. Second, I highlight the multicultural city – and the urban linguistic diversity therein – as an important site for the positioning of minority languages. I use as counterpoints Singapore and Hong Kong: in the former, a historical moment prompts a re-evaluation of the place of heritage languages; in the latter, the debate on the integration of ethnic minorities continues to focus on the development of Cantonese competence. For both territories, I examine the role of social media and online resources, such as LinguisticMinorities.HK, in research, education, and advocacy. Finally, I consider how, in late capitalism, multicultural peripheral communities such as the Peranakans of Singapore – even with a shift from their ancestral vernacular – not only are able to maintain postvernacular vitality, but can also be positioned as a source of multilingualism and authenticity, with much to offer the Centre. What were traditionally communities and language practices on the margins are in a time of reimagining, in practice and in scholarship, and need to be valued for what they can reveal about language contact dynamics, trajectories, and evolution. |
Description | Plenary speaker |
Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/254296 |
DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.author | Lim, LLS | - |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-06-13T04:08:35Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2018-06-13T04:08:35Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2017 | - |
dc.identifier.citation | 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB11): Bilingualism, Multilingualism, and the New Speaker, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, 11-15 June 2017 | - |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/254296 | - |
dc.description | Plenary speaker | - |
dc.description.abstract | In what is viewed as the second phase of postmodernity, in particular as defined by digitality, we are afforded challenges and opportunities for reimagining communities and vernaculars considered on the periphery. I focus on three ecologies that I suggest need to be appreciated for their significance in the language contact dynamics of this era. First I consider communities for whom computer-mediated communication (CMC) serves as a platform on which language practices beyond those used in the original, local context are widespread, even favoured. With Cantonese-dominant Hongkongers, for example, CMC promotes significantly more mixing with and calqueing into English, compared to spoken discourse – just as diasporic web-based communities of practice use their contact language variety more than in traditional writing or spoken face-to-face interaction. Such CMC practices have the potential to spread to other domains, and impact on the evolution of contact language varieties. Second, I highlight the multicultural city – and the urban linguistic diversity therein – as an important site for the positioning of minority languages. I use as counterpoints Singapore and Hong Kong: in the former, a historical moment prompts a re-evaluation of the place of heritage languages; in the latter, the debate on the integration of ethnic minorities continues to focus on the development of Cantonese competence. For both territories, I examine the role of social media and online resources, such as LinguisticMinorities.HK, in research, education, and advocacy. Finally, I consider how, in late capitalism, multicultural peripheral communities such as the Peranakans of Singapore – even with a shift from their ancestral vernacular – not only are able to maintain postvernacular vitality, but can also be positioned as a source of multilingualism and authenticity, with much to offer the Centre. What were traditionally communities and language practices on the margins are in a time of reimagining, in practice and in scholarship, and need to be valued for what they can reveal about language contact dynamics, trajectories, and evolution. | - |
dc.language | eng | - |
dc.relation.ispartof | 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB11) | - |
dc.title | Periphery in the age of reimagining: Vernaculars and vitality in urban multicultural Asia | - |
dc.type | Conference_Paper | - |
dc.identifier.email | Lim, LLS: lisalim@hku.hk | - |
dc.identifier.authority | Lim, LLS=rp01169 | - |
dc.identifier.hkuros | 276685 | - |
dc.publisher.place | Ireland | - |