Heritage language retention in second generation Chinese-Americans

While most immigrants to the United States arrive here with native proficiency in a language other than English, their immigrant languages generally do not survive the assimilative forces of Americanization, and the shift from primary use of the heritage language to English monolingualism usually occurs within two or three generations. This study looks retrospectively at the phenomena of language retention and loss in adult children of Chinese immigrants to identify the factors that might have led to their respective linguistic outcomes; it examines relationships between certain social and social-psychological factors putatively related to language retention and the extent to which Chinese Americans in the second generation actually retain their heritage language.; Second-generation Chinese American adults were surveyed by questionnaire and asked to provide information about themselves and their family members regarding their language proficiency, language use, language instruction, social environments, language attitudes and ethnic/cultural identity, both in the past and in the present. The data from the 127 survey participants are analyzed first to identify relationships between both past and present circumstances and present linguistic outcomes and then are compared with case studies of six individuals to provide a clearer picture of how the various factors involved interact to lead to particular linguistic outcomes.; The results confirm the importance of continued use of the heritage language as the primary language of communication among family members, both adults and children. For the subjects in this study, the most important factors in their acquisition and subsequent retention of Chinese were the use of Chinese by the child in speech directed to parents and grandparents and the use of Chinese by these significant adults in speech directed to the child. Other variables positively related to Chinese language retention were parental directives to speak Chinese, time spent in Chinese-speaking countries and attitudes regarding ethnic identity, all of which evoke a sense of need to speak the language. Variables observed to be unrelated to heritage language retention included: Chinese language instruction; socioeconomic status; parents' English language proficiency; and ethnic makeup of neighborhood. In general, the data reflect a trend toward subtractive bilingualism such that even second-generation Chinese Americans who acquire their heritage language during childhood tend to use the language less as they get older and therefore emerge in adulthood with limited proficiency.