LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 11 November 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Language Choice of Malaysian Chindians

Ainun Rozana Mohd Zaid, M.A.,
Mac Yin Mee, M.Ed.,
Kuang Ching Hei, Ph.D.

Abstract

This paper focuses on a minority group of Malaysians called Chindians, a group comprising children of mixed marriages between mainstream Chinese and Indians. This paper aims to identify the language choice of the Chindians in four domains: family, education, employment and religion. In particular, this paper examines where Chindians are likely to use their native languages such as Chinese (including dialects) and Tamil (including sub-varieties) which are linguistically passed on by their parents and the two other languages of official status: Malay and English. Interlocutors involved, domains and their reasons for using or refraining from using these languages are explored. Little research has been done on Chindians due to their small demography in this country. In this study selected respondents were 18 children aged from 10 to 31 and 11 parents who are 6 Chinese and 5 Indians respectively. All are from an urban area located in the Klang Valley of Selangor, the biggest state of peninsular Malaysia. A questionnaire that has been refined from a pilot study was then administered. A structured interview was also conducted with the parents to validate the findings. Analysis of data was done based on the items of the questionnaire and these were then presented in percentages. Findings suggest that Chindians’ main choice of language rests on English.

1. Introduction

Research focusing on people of mixed cultural heritage, like the Chindians, is far in between in Malaysia and this is probably because they are of a very small minority group. In general, Chindians are descendants of mixed marriages between mainstream Chinese and Indians. A search on the internet indicates that the term has not even been classified as an ethnic minority although it is used broadly by Malaysians in the peninsular. A preliminary study of the Chindian community (see Ainun Rozana & Mac, 2009) suggests that Chindians use English mainly among themselves and with their parents with 47.4% of them using it most of the time while only 26.3% claim to use Chinese most of the time, and 15.8% claim that Tamil is used most of the time and only 10.5% claim that Malay is used most of the time. Although their reasons for saying so have yet to be verified, this particular study shows that 69.2% of the Chindians regard English as their native language. The same respondents also claim that they are unaffected by how other ethnic groups view them when using English. This is because they regard English as an important language that is used for communicative purposes with family, friends as well as for job applications. This paper aims to explore the domains other languages, including their parents’ native languages, are used and it is hoped that the findings will fill in a gap that is rarely explored.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ainun Rozana Mohd Zaid, ainunr@um.edu.my
Mac Yin Mee, macym@um.edu.my
Kuang Ching Hei, kuangch@um.edu.my (corresponding author)

Faculty of Languages & Linguistics
University of Malaya
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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