| Macau holds a key position as a gateway between China and the West; therefore, the language scene here is extremely complex. In recent years, language use in Macau has had further changes because of its return to China. This paper first provides a comprehensive inspection of Macau's linguistic state and linguistic life. It then describes the characteristics of commonly-used spoken languages and written languages in Macau. It then traces the growth and development of Chinese, English, and Portuguese as well as Putonghua and Cantonese dialects. Next, two focus-studies on Macau-born Portuguese person's Chinese name and Chinese street name in Macau will be reported. Lastly, this paper discusses Macau's language policy and language planning.The paper is divided into six chapters. Chapter one is an overview of Macau and provides the background material for the rest of the paper. In the past 450 years, as Macau experiences Portugal's occupation and the return of its sovereignty to China, the state of languages in Macau experienced profound changes. The majority of Macau's population is Chinese. Natives in Macau mostly speak Canton dialect. Many immigrants come from different dialectical regions in China; many others are of Chinese ancestry and come from Southeast Asia. Still others come from Portugal, Britain, Thailand, and the Philippines and speak languages such as English and Portuguese, etc. Thus, Chinese (including dialects), Portuguese, English and other languages form a rich, complex and colorful linguistic society in Macau, making Macau an ideal locale for socio-linguistic research.The body of the paper has two parts. The first part, which consists of chapters two to five, is on the state of languages. The second part, which is chapter six, discusses language planning. Chapter two discusses the state of languages in Macau in earlier history, from 17th to 19th century. The author used the Macau Chinese File from 1509 in Qing dysnasty and the book Aomen Jilue to analyze some unique characteristics of Chinese in Macau during that period.Chapter three traces the linguistic life in Macau. The paper provides a systematic organization of the many languages and dialects currently in use in Macau, especially focusing on native Macanese Portuguese's language. Native Macanese Portuguese generally speak three languages: Portuguese, English, and Patua. This Patua is a Creole language based on Portuguese.Chapter four discusses the usage of Macau's most commonly-used spoken language and written language. With respect to spoken languague, Macau mainly uses Cantonese dialect. Indigenous inhabitants' Cantonese dialect differs subtly from thatspoken in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and immigrants' Cantonese dialect often retains some characteristics from their first language or first dialect-this paper has detailed descriptions of these spoken languages. With respect to written language, Macau mainly uses prose writing in the vernacular. However, Putonghua and Cantonese dialects are both used, modern and old Chinese may both be found, and English coexist with Chinese in Macau's prose writing in the vernacular. In business and administrative uses, "Portuguese-style Chinese" and other non-standard uses are common, and these uses seriously affectthe standard of written language.Chapter five reports two focused research studies on Macanese Portuguese's Chinese names and Chinese names of streets. The purpose of these studies is to examine the consequences and extent of contact and mutual influence between Portuguese and Chinese. My research shows that, political climate and social development has influence over whether or not Macanese Portuguese take up Chinese names, and Chinese names of Macau's streets record a history of Portuguese's ruling over Macau and Portuguese's profound influence on Chinese.Chapter six discusses language policy and~planning. The article introduces Macau's language policy before and after Macau's handover to China. It then analyzes the development of China, English and Portuguese: Chinese has been gradually gaining gro... |
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