Throughout my research for project 2, I looked at many blogs from previous students. One of the blogs that I found interesting was Mengqi Liu's. Liu wrote a narrative entitled "A Step Forward" in which she related her experiences and struggles as a Mandarin speaker in a predominantly Cantonese-speaking community. I found her story not only intriguing but also related to the topic I discussed in my second essay, dialectal attitudes in China. Liu relates that many of her Cantonese- speaking classmates treated her differently because she could not speak Cantonese. I found her experiences enlightening because while we have previous discussed as a class the racial implications of linguistic prejudice in the English language, we have not discussed in depth about intra-cultural prejudices, specifically in the Chinese context.
In one of Mengqi’s experiences, she states that even salesmen in Hong Kong would treat her and her mother differently because they spoke Mandarin: “I remember going to Hong Kong with my mother. What enraged me at that time was the fact that salesmen tended to treat the costumers who spoke English and Cantonese, instead of Mandarin, more nicely. I don’t know if I was just too sensitive and paranoid because of all the things that had happened at school, but I did feel people’s dislike of a certain language or their negative impression related to it” (M. Liu). Her experiences broadened my understanding of linguistic prejudices because even though the salesman and Liu were of the same ethnicity, she was still discriminated against due to her language. When comparing this experience to those of Young, Motha, and Kainose, I found that Liu’s narrative had some striking differences.
One of the most important differences between linguistic prejudice in the U.S. compared to prejudice in China is that race does not play such a primary role in the latter. In China, there are 55 non-Han minority groups. Yet, these 55 groups compose less than 9% of the total population of Mainland China. In turn, there is very little ethnic diversity, and thus almost no prejudice due to racism.
Nevertheless, linguistic prejudice still exists. In an interview I conducted with Donald Li, a freshman at Emory, I discovered that other social barriers separate different regional dialects, and that each dialect has its own distinctions. For instance, Shanghainese is discriminated against due to the fact that it sounds feminine, relative to other Mandarin dialects. This observation made by Donald surprised me because texts such as Young and Motha do not discuss sexism in their texts as a factor in linguistic imperialism.
Thus, I find that via researching dialectal attitudes in China, we might perceive discrimination toward certain English dialects differently. Perhaps there are other social implications in linguistic hierarchy that are overlooked due to the emphasis on racial prejudice. As Young states, “But don’t nobody’s language, dialect, or style make them ‘vulnerable to prejudice.’ It’s ATTITUDES” (Young 62), perhaps there are deeper reasons for the bias against dialects such as Black English, separate from race. I challenge others to conduct similar research in other cultures. By doing so, we can create an even more accurate understanding of attitudes toward dialects no only in English, but on an international level.
In one of Mengqi’s experiences, she states that even salesmen in Hong Kong would treat her and her mother differently because they spoke Mandarin: “I remember going to Hong Kong with my mother. What enraged me at that time was the fact that salesmen tended to treat the costumers who spoke English and Cantonese, instead of Mandarin, more nicely. I don’t know if I was just too sensitive and paranoid because of all the things that had happened at school, but I did feel people’s dislike of a certain language or their negative impression related to it” (M. Liu). Her experiences broadened my understanding of linguistic prejudices because even though the salesman and Liu were of the same ethnicity, she was still discriminated against due to her language. When comparing this experience to those of Young, Motha, and Kainose, I found that Liu’s narrative had some striking differences.
One of the most important differences between linguistic prejudice in the U.S. compared to prejudice in China is that race does not play such a primary role in the latter. In China, there are 55 non-Han minority groups. Yet, these 55 groups compose less than 9% of the total population of Mainland China. In turn, there is very little ethnic diversity, and thus almost no prejudice due to racism.
Nevertheless, linguistic prejudice still exists. In an interview I conducted with Donald Li, a freshman at Emory, I discovered that other social barriers separate different regional dialects, and that each dialect has its own distinctions. For instance, Shanghainese is discriminated against due to the fact that it sounds feminine, relative to other Mandarin dialects. This observation made by Donald surprised me because texts such as Young and Motha do not discuss sexism in their texts as a factor in linguistic imperialism.
Thus, I find that via researching dialectal attitudes in China, we might perceive discrimination toward certain English dialects differently. Perhaps there are other social implications in linguistic hierarchy that are overlooked due to the emphasis on racial prejudice. As Young states, “But don’t nobody’s language, dialect, or style make them ‘vulnerable to prejudice.’ It’s ATTITUDES” (Young 62), perhaps there are deeper reasons for the bias against dialects such as Black English, separate from race. I challenge others to conduct similar research in other cultures. By doing so, we can create an even more accurate understanding of attitudes toward dialects no only in English, but on an international level.