Social variation of vernacular written Cantonese in Guangzhou (Canton City), China

This dissertation conducts a sociolinguistic study to examine the current status--and potential future development--of vernacular written Cantonese (VWC) as a non-standardized as well as wide-spread written code, as opposed to the government-sanctioned standard written language, Standard Written Chinese (SWC),) in Guangzhou (Canton City) of China. Collecting data from 116 Cantonese-Mandarin bilingual speakers in Guangzhou who are biliterates in SWC and VWC through a written survey, this study deals with the social variation of language attitudes toward VWC, and with the sociolinguistic variation in terms of writing behavior of Mandarin-Cantonese biliterates. Moreover, the role of Cantonese lifestyle is explored as an influencing factor in the literacy practices of VWC in this study.;Firstly, a statistical study is conducted to describe the social variation of the language attitudes of the 116 Cantonese-Mandarin biliterates in the Guangzhou community toward VWC and their social acceptance of VWC. The language attitudes are measured on four dimensions with respect to the social status of VWC and regional language planning: (1) VWC preference as a member of the Guangzhou community (Guangzhounese); (2) VWC preference for personal use; (3) VWC as public media language; and (4) standardization of VWC. The results reveal the following: (1) a strong Guangzhou local identity triggers the highest preference for the use of VWC; (2) personal use is a significant factor in motivating the use of VWC; (3) lowest preference for VWC in public language use; and (4) positive attitude toward standardization of VWC. Those results suggest that the positive attitude toward VWC in Guangzhou is restricted to the informal and casual domains, but excluded from formal domains. To maintain the vitality of VWC in Guangzhou community, it is significant to maintain an environment in which VWC can develop naturally. Furthermore, VWC appears to be a language of identity, such that its use reflects a positive attitude towards the local written code. VWC also has social value as a marker of cultural solidarity in Guangzhou city, a vital sign of its maintenance.;Secondly, the directions of the variation of VWC in three levels of VWC structures, i.e., general lexical variables, classifier variables, and syntactic variables, are explored from the divergence from SWC and convergence to SWC. Series of VWC variables in these three levels of language structures are selected from the survey of VWC literacy practices for a frequency distribution analysis. Eight social variables (gender, age, education, income, occupation, SWC and VWC proficiency, and self identity) are tabulated with the selected VWC variables. Based on the figures and tables created to elaborate the significant patterns of language changes, the directions of VWC changes are explored through interpreting the distribution patterns of the different VWC variables in different social groups. The findings suggest that the patterns of VWC used by different social groups vary at the lexical and syntactic levels. Those different patterns are reflected in different ways with respect to the intrusion of different written elements, especially SWC, into VWC writings. Male gender is the most influencing factor in the convergence of VWC to SWC, while the most notable social factors are female gender and middle income in the divergence of VWC from SWC.;Lastly, correlation methods of statistics as well as the method of critical discourse analysis (CDA) are adopted to explore the role of local identity in the maintenance and spread of VWC in the Guangzhou community. The findings suggest that, the Guangzhou Cantonese lifestyle, representing the regional identity of Guangzhou, plays a positive role in the divergence of VWC from SWC. There is also positive correlation between language attitude and Guangzhou Cantonese lifestyle. Mass media and Hong Kong culture strongly promote the spread of VWC in the Guangzhou community.;The dissertation concludes that VWC would remain entrenched in the Cantonese-Mandarin community in Guangzhou, given its social value as a marker of cultural solidarity. Nonetheless, because VWC is not officially recognized by the Chinese government, its exact form may be unstable and may be easily influenced by the standard language (namely, SWC), both linguistically and ideologically.