In recent years, the complex relationship between Hong Kong society and the growing Mainland Chinese political influence has led to active outbursts of civil dissatisfaction. A large component of...Show moreIn recent years, the complex relationship between Hong Kong society and the growing Mainland Chinese political influence has led to active outbursts of civil dissatisfaction. A large component of this unease is the anti-Mainland sentiment, aimed at both the government and Chinese immigrants and tourists. Additionally, the prevalence of the Mandarin language and the Simplified Chinese script has increased, in local schools, on television, in the workplace and in the streets. Since both the language issues of Hong Kong and the socio-political issues associated with the Mainland Chinese influence have gotten increasing attention, it makes one wonder whether there is a form of correlation and plausible causation between these two factors. Thus, using news articles, social media, a survey and youth responses this paper will attempt to answer the question; Do attitudes regarding the Mandarin and Cantonese language in Hong Kong reflect a political stance vis-à-vis Mainland China and Hong Kong?Show less
Previous studies have indicated that native and non-native listeners’ attention to differences in segments and lexical tones is heightened when language context is removed. Do they also display...Show morePrevious studies have indicated that native and non-native listeners’ attention to differences in segments and lexical tones is heightened when language context is removed. Do they also display greater sensitivity to intonational differences in the absence of language context? To examine this question, this thesis tests the ability of Dutch and Mandarin listeners to identify Mandarin questions and statements that differ only in intonation in three different levels of language context: no language context, a neutral language context, and a constraining language context. All listeners were found to identify questions and statements better with each increasing level of language context. This suggests that the presence of a meaningful semantic context facilitates the perception of intonational meaning. Moreover, Mandarin listeners were better at identifying questions and statements than non-native listeners in sentences with language context. But the difference between Mandarin and Dutch listeners’ abilities was minimal in sentences without language context. This result suggests that the effect of language experience on intonation perception is diminished at the lower auditory processing level.Show less
This thesis compares similar phonological features across Táiwān Mandarin and Singapore Mandarin by measuring the acoustic properties of the variables in question. Despite both varieties’ official...Show moreThis thesis compares similar phonological features across Táiwān Mandarin and Singapore Mandarin by measuring the acoustic properties of the variables in question. Despite both varieties’ official claim of being identical to Běijīng Mandarin, they have developed a significant number of differences in parallel. I hypothesize that this is because both of these varieties grew out of having Mandarin imposed upon populations that were originally and largely Southern Mǐn speaking. To test this, I modified the Labovian sociolinguistic interview for an online survey format for easy distribution. I focused largely on four variables, the first three of which are theoretically available in both of the varieties of Mandarin under investigation: 1) dentalization of the retroflex sibilants, 2) dentalization of the velar nasal codas following mid to high front vowels, and 3) unrounding of the rounded high front vowel. The final variable under investigation was a possible fifth tone only available in Singapore Mandarin. Despite whatever ease this afforded in data collection, the online survey format also created a lot of disparity between recordings that could have been avoided by using a laboratory setting, or even just consistent recording equipment. Keeping this defect in mind, I found both the behaviours predicted in prior literature, but also its exact opposite, leading me to believe that an online survey format will need a lot of honing before it can reliably be applied to research based on measuring acoustics.Show less
This thesis discusses the properties of the current global language English, along with other three languages: Esperanto, Latin, and Classical Chinese who once were or close to be an international...Show moreThis thesis discusses the properties of the current global language English, along with other three languages: Esperanto, Latin, and Classical Chinese who once were or close to be an international language. This paper attempts to figure out if Chinese will replace English as the next global language by listing the properties of a global language following a comparison of the list with properties of Modern Chinese. In order to find out the properties of a global language, this thesis analyzes the reasons why each language became a global or a regional lingua franca and why some of the languages failed to maintain the status of being an international language. The result shows that being a global language often relies on colonial expansion, strong influence in multiple fields throughout the world and the easiness of acquiring the language. Chinese being the only language written with characters and the principle of “Peaceful Rise” of China makes Chinese less likely to be the next global language.Show less
