Language use and language behaviour of Hong Kong Chinese students in Toronto

This study examines the relationship between language use and behaviour and their broader sociolinguistic and sociocultural environment. It explores first language use and behaviour of Hong Kong Chinese students in relation to the ethnolinguistic vitality of the Chinese community in Toronto. The thesis presents a bilingual, bicultural Chinese Canadian's view of linguistic changes and the effects on one of the largest linguistic minority groups in Toronto; it relates students' linguistic experiences to individual and social-environmental factors that affect the relationship between a minority and a majority group in a culturally diverse setting. The study seeks to identify the relevant sociological, socio-psychological and psychological variables that facilitate students' first language use and behaviour. It looks at whether students' positive or negative perceptions of the ethnolinguistic vitality of their ethnic group, their socio-psychological attitudes about the role and value of their language and culture, and their subjective ethnolinguistic vitality beliefs, are related to the variables. A total of 115 Chinese students mostly of Hong Kong origin; median age 13 years; 64% females; from two heritage language schools in different locations in Toronto, completed a questionnaire. In-depth follow-up interviews were conducted with 12 students who volunteered. Two theoretical models of ethnolinguistic vitality were applied to the Chinese situation in Toronto, linking sociostructural variables with students' subjective perceptions and ethnolinguistic identity and beliefs. The study investigated the role and extent of the first language (Cantonese) in students' daily life, and found evidence that there were plentiful opportunities for first language use, close linguistic and cultural contact with Chinese speakers, strong contact with the Chinese media, high motivation to learn and use the first language, positive attitude towards heritage language and cultural maintenance and high ethnolinguistic vitality of the Chinese group. Since a myriad of factors are associated with minority students' first language use and behaviour in a multilingual and multicultural environment, it was shown that Chinese students' positive attitude towards factors at the sociological, socio-psychological and psychological levels all help to facilitate students' first-language use and behaviour. Not only was the community vitality of the Chinese group in Toronto found to be high, but students' individual perception of that vitality was also high, fostering high first language vitality. A majority of the students also showed a balanced bicultural identity, and viewed themselves as equally Chinese and Canadian. Given strong first language use and behaviour, favourable conditions for heritage language and cultural maintenance, and the growing economic and political influence of the large Chinese minority group, issues are raised about how this group fits into the pluralist Canadian mosaic, and what present intergroup relations mean for multiculturalism in Canada. Considering the relationship between a minority and majority group of different and changing societal power relations, the author highlights implications for both the Chinese as well as the larger Canadian community.