Multilingualism in transition : intergenerational code choice in two multilingual Totok chinese families in Surabaya

Abstract

This thesis examines the code choice (and code-switching practices) of two multilingual totok families from Surabaya, Indonesia. The totok are people whose ancestors first migrated from China to Indonesia in the early part of the twentieth century, speaking different Chinese dialects. On arrival in Java, they were confronted with a range of local languages including Javanese and different varieties of Malay, but most families sent their children to Chinese schools where Mandarin was the language of instruction. The early Indonesian-born generations of totok were highly multilingual, speaking their families' ancestral dialects and Mandarin as well as a range of local Indonesian codes. The closure of almost all Chinese schools in Indonesia in 1966 and then the rest in 1974 meant that subsequent generations attended Indonesian schools with Indonesian as the language of instruction, and learned little Chinese at home. Some have also developed proficiency in foreign codes such as English and German. It is argued that socio-historical and political changes have had a major impact on people's language proficiency and thus on code choice and code-switching behaviour. Language shift is common in many migrant communities across the world, but most studies of such situations have discussed shift from a single migrant code to a single host code. The present study is distinguished by the complex multilingual nature of the language shift(s) involved. Although there has been language shift amongst these subjects, it is from competence in a range of migrant codes as well as host codes among the age cohorts born before 1965 to competence in a range of host codes and western codes among the age cohorts born after that date. These changes in language repertoire are a reflection of both acculturation and modernisation. The major sources of data for this study were 33 hours of recorded family interactions and informal ethnographic interviews with family members, as well as participant observation over a period of three and a half years. All participants were multilingual to varying degrees but the typical language repertoire of individuals varies from generation to generation, with different individuals having different code choice preferences for their interactions with individual family members. Unmarked choices can be explained as rational in terms of Myers-Scotton's (1998 and elsewhere) Extended Markedness Model, with subjects preferring different codes because of differences in age, perceived language proficiency, family role-relations and other factors. While one code may serve as a marked choice for some subjects, it can serve as an unmarked code for others. Sometimes, code-switching itself is an unmarked choice, with different codes functioning similarly to speech levels in a language like Javanese. The study concludes that the variation in the language repertoires of different subjects reflects wider societal changes, and that their complex code-choice behaviour indicates both their multilinguality and their rationality.