Amid push for linguistic unity, languages across China face crisis, including indigenous Cantonese

Amid the push for linguistic unity, languages across China are facing a crisis, including Cantonese that originated from the city of Canton.

For the Guangfu people predominantly from the southern Guangdong Province, Hong Kong, and surrounding areas, Cantonese is more than just a language. It is an important tenet of Guangfu culture and history, from which stems their identity, reported Sixth Tone.

As Mandarin increased in popularity, amid the push for linguistic unity, dialects and languages across China are to some extent in crisis. Cantonese -- with millions of speakers, which proponents of other dialects regard as being relatively safe -- is no exception.

According to a 2019 survey, nearly 120 million people speak Cantonese worldwide. Of the approximately 100 million people living in Guangdong province, around 67 million speak Cantonese.

Outside Guangdong, around 33 million speak it in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Hong Kong and Macao, in addition to another seven million speakers around the globe among the Chinese diaspora, reported Sixth Tone.

Examining survey data, scholars Shan Yunming and Li Sheng, in a 2018 paper on language attitudes and the Cantonese identity, found that more than half the respondents in Guangdong were pessimistic about the future of Cantonese. Younger people were more concerned about the decline than middle-aged people.

In 1956, China began implementing a policy to promote Mandarin. According to the Ministry of Education, as of September 2020, the nationwide penetration rate of Mandarin was 80.72 per cent.

Almost two decades later, the government's reform and opening-up policy ushered in large-scale migration, and with it, expanded the scope and frequency of interaction between people from different regions, reported Sixth Tone.

With its large population, multiple ethnicities, languages, and dialects, China promoted a common language to facilitate better communication, reported Sixth Tone.

In 1992, Guangdong Province announced its shift to Mandarin. Since then, municipal departments and educational institutions in Guangzhou have gradually replaced Cantonese with Mandarin.

Some primary and middle schools even banned other dialects on campus. In October 2018, parents of students at an elementary school in Guangzhou's Liwan District received a text message from the school.

It said: "In order to instil love in China's national language among teachers and students, starting next week, all teachers and students are asked to speak standard Mandarin on campus and to not use dialects, non-standard pronunciation or intonation. Mandarin should be spoken on campus, in the classroom and for after-school communication."

The continued promotion of Mandarin has also led to unintended consequences: the gradual fading of Cantonese slang, which is more succinct, conjures up vivid images and is often rooted in Cantonese history and cultural customs, reported Sixth Tone.

( With inputs from ANI )

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