Multilingualism in Greater China and the Chinese language diaspora

Abstract

Greater China consists of four distinct polities: Mainland China; Taiwan; and the two Special Administrative Regions – Hong Kong and Macao. Largescale migration from these regions has also resulted in a huge Chinese language diaspora across the globe. Altogether, the communities subsumed under these two entities – Greater China and the Chinese diaspora – represent an incredible array of cultural and linguistic heritages, language situations, and multilingual resources. This chapter gives a sociolinguistic overview of those communities: their historical background, sources of linguistic diversity; and issues pertaining to bi-/multilingualism including language policies, bilingual education, language shift, language maintenance, and institutional support. Following some demographic and historical background that is necessary for understanding current linguistic diversity in China, this chapter highlights selected issues that impact the linguistic milieu and multilingual practices of this migrant population.