IDENTITY AND LANGUAGE CHOICE
Act of Identity: Identity choice and Language choice"Language is tied up with identity, in that individual speakers express their choice of identity by their choice of language and by the degree to which they focus their speech on one variety or another. Through such “acts of identification “or “act of identity’, speakers signal their degree of affiliation with one sociocultural group or another, or they create new identities and affiliation which blend attributes of existing groups.
With every speech act all individuals perform, to a greater or less extent, an act of identity, revealing through their personal use of language, their sense of social and ethnic solidarity or difference. " Le Page & Keller (1985) |
Ethnic Identity as Hakka
By saying Hakka, individuals express their choice of Hakka identity. During the
interview, one interviewee Fat emphasized that :
Speaking Hakka is one of the characteristic of Hakka people. Hakka language itself symbolizes the identity of being Hakka.
From his viewpoint, Hakka language is a very important symbol of Hakka ethnic identity. There is a closed relationship between Hakka language and Hakka ethnic identity. He insisted that Hakka people should know and speak Hakka as it is their own language. According to "act of identity", when one choose to speak Hakka, he or she in fact express their choice of identity. By using Hakka, individuals perform their sense of social and ethnic solidarity. (Le page & Keller 1985)
Speaking Hakka is one of the characteristic of Hakka people. Hakka language itself symbolizes the identity of being Hakka.
From his viewpoint, Hakka language is a very important symbol of Hakka ethnic identity. There is a closed relationship between Hakka language and Hakka ethnic identity. He insisted that Hakka people should know and speak Hakka as it is their own language. According to "act of identity", when one choose to speak Hakka, he or she in fact express their choice of identity. By using Hakka, individuals perform their sense of social and ethnic solidarity. (Le page & Keller 1985)
However....
In Hong Kong, there are few indicators of whether a person is Hakka, other than hearing him or her speak the Hakka language, which is increasing rare since many Hakka speak Cantonese in public. (Pennington, 1998)
When the residents are away from their village, they speak Cantonese rather than Hakka in public. Our interviewees are no exception. Three interviewees Fat, Yau and Apple all agreed that they prefer to speak Cantonese rather than Hakka in public setting. From their viewpoint, Cantonese is the dominant language in the society and most of the Hong Kong people speak Cantonese. As there are fewer and fewer Hakka-speaking people in the community and Hakka is not prevalent in Hong Kong. They may even speak Cantonese instead of Hakka in private setting.
When the residents are away from their village, they speak Cantonese rather than Hakka in public. Our interviewees are no exception. Three interviewees Fat, Yau and Apple all agreed that they prefer to speak Cantonese rather than Hakka in public setting. From their viewpoint, Cantonese is the dominant language in the society and most of the Hong Kong people speak Cantonese. As there are fewer and fewer Hakka-speaking people in the community and Hakka is not prevalent in Hong Kong. They may even speak Cantonese instead of Hakka in private setting.
But it is interesting to note that...
in Hong Kong today, “Hakka” refers sometimes to people who speak or whose ancestors spoke Hakka language, yet not all of these would identify themselves or be identified by others as Hakka. Conversely, many who no longer speak Hakka still consider themselves to be Hakka. (Pennington, 1998)
Young generation is the case. For instance, one of our groupmate Vanessa, although she is not able to speak fluent Hakka , she can understand some Hakka when her parents and relatives are talking in Hakka. Even she does not speak Hakka, she still identifies herself as Hakka and be identified by others as Hakka.
It is undeniable that there is a closed relationship between language and identity, however, due to many factors, individual speakers may choose one specific language in order to adapt to the society, such as Hakka-speaking people in Cantonese-speaking community. In modern society, minority language speakers like Hakka-speaking people face such dilemma in everyday lives.
Young generation is the case. For instance, one of our groupmate Vanessa, although she is not able to speak fluent Hakka , she can understand some Hakka when her parents and relatives are talking in Hakka. Even she does not speak Hakka, she still identifies herself as Hakka and be identified by others as Hakka.
It is undeniable that there is a closed relationship between language and identity, however, due to many factors, individual speakers may choose one specific language in order to adapt to the society, such as Hakka-speaking people in Cantonese-speaking community. In modern society, minority language speakers like Hakka-speaking people face such dilemma in everyday lives.