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Styles of Communication

​​​  HOME

  • Mostly Cantonese

  • Consider Cantonese as the native language for most family members

  • Code-switching with some Thai and limited English

​​​  HOME (in Thailand)

  • Only Thai

  • The whole family solely speak in Thai

  SOCIAL

  • Greeting neighbours and acquaintances in Cantonese

  • Socializing mostly with Thai-speaking friends and in Thai

  WORK

  • works with Cantonese boss or colleagues

  • customers are mostly Cantonese-speaking who seldom code-switch

​​​  SOCIAL (in Thailand)

  • Only Thai

1st generation - Mother

  ENTERTAINMENT

  • used to but no longer watches Cantonese films

  • browse Thai websites, watch Thai movies etc.

When the mother goes back to Thailand for annual visits, she is free to use Thai in all occasion. But when she is in Hong Kong, Cantonese knocks Thai out and replaces it as the dominating language in most (home, work and social) settings!

  ENTERTAINMENT

  • Mandarin dramas

  • Thai movies

  • Mandarin, English, Korean, Japanese and Thai songs

  • news in Cantonese 

2nd generation - Elder daughter

  HOME

  • Mostly Cantonese code-switched with English

  • Intersentential and tag-switching with some Thai

  SOCIAL

  • Cantonese code-switched with English

  • texting in English mainly

  • sometimes type on social media in Japanese

  • code-switching sometimes in Mandarin, occasionally in Korean and Thai

  EDUCATION

  • Japanese solely used in Japanese academy

  HOME (in Thailand)

  • Only Thai

  • The whole family solely speak in Thai

  WORK

  • Cantonese code-switching with English

  • handling emails in English

  SOCIAL (in Thailand)

  • only Thai with relatives

The elder daughter loves learning languages and we know she has quite a number of languages in her repertoire. Yet, in all primary settings (she spends little time in the educational setting and is not as representative as other domains; in entertainment domain, a person passively receives language, i.e. he can practice listening and reading and writing but not speaking) Cantonese still dominates. The following ones would typically be English or…just not Thai yet!

2nd generation - Younger daughter

  SOCIAL (in Thailand)

  • only in Thai

  HOME

  • Mostly Cantonese

  • Intersentential and tag-switching with limited Thai and English

 HOME (in Thailand)

  • Only Thai

  • The whole family solely speak in Thai

  SOCIAL

  • Cantonese code-switched with Mandarin and English

  ENTERTAINMENT

  • Cantonese code-switching with English

  WORK

  • Cantonese code-switching with English

  • Mandarin with Mandarin-speaking customers

  SOCIAL

  • Cantonese code-switched with English

  • texting in English mainly

  • sometimes type on social media in Japanese

  • code-switching sometimes in Mandarin, occasionally in Korean and Thai

Although the younger daughter uses Thai when she is in Thailand, she spends most of her time in Hong Kong. And there we can see that Cantonese instead of Thai dominates in all settings (i.e. home, social, work). Therefore, her usage of Cantonese is indeed much more extensive than that of Thai!

Inter-generational language shift

Language shift: the replacement of a language by another as the primary means of communication and socialization (Fishman, 1964)

Reference:

Fishman, Joshua A. "Language Maintenance And Language Shift As A Field Of Inquiry. A Definition Of The Field And Suggestions For Its Further Development." Linguistics 2.9 (1964): 32-70. De Gruyter. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.​

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