Cantonese language could disappear, says UBC linguist Zoe Lam

The Cantonese language could disappear within a couple of generations because of social pressures and the actions of the Chinese government, according to a UBC linguistics researcher.

Zoe Lam says while there are an estimated 70 to 100 million Cantonese speakers around the world right now, the Chinese government's preference for the Putonghua language also know as Mandarin is threatening the survival of Cantonese.

"When I was last in China, there were banners saying, 'Be civilized. Speak Putonghua,' everywhere, including at the airport," said Lam, who recently won UBC's Three Minute Thesis competition.

Cantonese is the traditional language group of southern and southeastern China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and is spoken by many overseas Chinese communities around the world.

Mandarin is a group of languages traditionally spoken across the north and southwest regions of China, including the ruling elite in Beijing, and is the official language of the government.

While the two spoken language groups are distinct, they share many words and a closely related written form.

In southern China, the Guangdong National Language Regulations were enacted to restrict the use of Cantonese in the media, she said.

"Many people see that as a threat of cultural genocide," she said.

She also claims that in Hong Kong,where people have traditionally spoken Cantonese,72 per cent of primary schoolsnow use Putonghua as the medium of instruction in Chinese language classesaccording to an unofficial survey.

"That's worrying. For a lot of abstract concepts like political science or philosophy, they may only know how to think in Mandarin, and not be able to express themselves very well in Cantonese.

"The chief executive of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying, took the oath of office in Putonghua, unlike the former chief executives, who did it in Cantonese. Many people think that his language choice was a 'kowtow' to Beijing."

And it is not just in China where the language is threatened, said Lam.

"For example, in Vancouver there are a lot of Cantonese speakers whose children are 'heritage speakers,' which means they learn the language from their parents. But when those heritage speakers have children they will probably speak English to their kids."