Living forward, looking backward: understanding local Cantonese families’ language investment in China

• Peng, Yue ^[1] ; Yang, Zhiqing ^[1]
  1. [1] Chinese University of Hong Kong

     Chinese University of Hong Kong

     RAE de Hong Kong (China)

     
• Localización: International journal of multilingualism, ISSN 1479-0718, Vol. 23, Nº. 1, 2026, págs. 288-304
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1080/14790718.2025.2516530
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • With people, goods, and semiotic resources flowing regionally, nationally, and internationally, local families with limited geographic mobility must nowadays make complex choices between local dialects, national languages, and international languages to support their children’s language development. This study investigated local Cantonese-speaking families’ language policy in Jiangmen, a relatively small city in China’s Guangdong province, focusing on how they arrived at language investment decisions for their children based on their perceptions of different identities. Using Stryker’s categorisation of identity modalities and identity prominence as a theoretical lens, we collected qualitative data through semi-structured interviews from six parents. The findings reveal that the parents strongly supported language investment related to conative identity, moderately supported language investment associated with cathectic identity, and weakly supported language investment connected to cognitive identity. However, the study suggests that these identity modalities, as perceived by parents, are not fixed but actively negotiated by families as they strive to maintain a balance between the past and future, or local/heritage identities and aspirational identities for themselves and their children.

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