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A local voice of Macau: Traditional Characters, code-switching and Written Cantonese in an internet forum
Chan, Brian Hok Shing
2015
Source PublicationGlobal Chinese
ISSN2199-4382
Volume1Issue:2Pages:281-310
Abstract

Macau is geographically small but it has a large and complex population with various sub-groups from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Against a backdrop of multilingualism and multiculturalism, questions arise as to whether there is a local Macau Chinese identity and, if yes, how this identity is constructed via language. From a set of language data collected from an internet forum, where university students and their peers have been expressing themselves under minimal censorship, a vernacular “voice” does seem to emerge with the pervasiveness of Traditional Characters and Written Cantonese, demarcating local students and mainland students. Whereas Written Cantonese, often interspersed with English words and phrases, has long been in use in Hong Kong and Macau, the data do show many creative expressions or literacy practices that depart further from the more (quasi-) standard Written Cantonese characters. This creativity is appropriately described as “translanguaging”, and yet “translanguaging” is nothing new in Cantonesespeaking communities; that is, at its outset, Written Cantonese is a “translanguaging” practice in the sense that it challenges the literary norm that “Chinese should always be written in Modern Standard Chinese” and problematizes the language ideology that “a dialect, such as Cantonese, cannot be written”. In addition, these literacy practices, though fluid and creative, are largely based on spoken Cantonese, and hence they can be seen as a way of making the forum even more exclusive to mainland students.

KeywordMacau Computer-mediated Communication Literacy Practice Written Cantonese Translanguaging
DOI10.1515/glochi-2015-1013
Language英語English
WOS Research AreaLinguistics
WOS SubjectLinguistics
PublisherDe Gruyter
Scopus ID2-s2.0-85065280840
Fulltext Access
Citation statistics
Document TypeJournal article
CollectionDEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Corresponding AuthorChan, Brian Hok Shing
AffiliationUniversity of Macau
First Author AffilicationUniversity of Macau
Corresponding Author AffilicationUniversity of Macau
Recommended Citation
GB/T 7714
Chan, Brian Hok Shing. A local voice of Macau: Traditional Characters, code-switching and Written Cantonese in an internet forum[J]. Global Chinese, 2015, 1(2), 281-310.
APA Chan, Brian Hok Shing.(2015). A local voice of Macau: Traditional Characters, code-switching and Written Cantonese in an internet forum. Global Chinese, 1(2), 281-310.
MLA Chan, Brian Hok Shing."A local voice of Macau: Traditional Characters, code-switching and Written Cantonese in an internet forum".Global Chinese 1.2(2015):281-310.
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