中国跨国婚姻家庭的语言规划研究

Family Language Policy and Planning in Transnational Marriages in China

本文采用民族志方法调查了7个在中国居住的跨国婚姻家庭,涉及9个2～8岁儿童,探讨了这些家庭的语言意识形态、语言管理和语言实践情况。7个家庭中的父母都由一个中国人和一个非汉语母语的外国人组成。本研究采用了半结构化访谈和实地考察模式。根据收集到的数据及其分析,有如下几个主要发现:(1)所有参与研究的父母都认为英语作为全球性语言在孩子的知识形成和将来就业发展中必不可少,汉语学习同等重要;(2)家庭环境对孩子语言习得,尤其在早期儿童语言发展阶段非常重要;(3)如果父母家庭语言规划合理,能充分使用自己母语和子女进行交流,这些家庭的孩子往往表现出很强的双语或多语能力;(4)外籍家长往往需要付出更大努力来提高孩子对其母语的兴趣,如果家长忽视和子女用其母语交流,往往导致子女不能成功习得此语言,成为单语使用者。本研究还揭示了父母对孩子双语或多语发展的焦虑,以及他们为鼓励和促进这种能力所采取的各种策略。

This study attempts to examine family language policy through investigating seven transnational families based in China.Only one parent is the native speaker of Chinese in these families.Research methods include ethnography,semi-structured interviews,home observations and conversations,recorded via WeChat and audio/video clips.The samples include 9 children aged 2-8.The research explores family language ideology,management and practices in their homes in China.The key fi ndings include:1)the parents believe that whereas Chinese language is important English as the global language is indispensable for child’s upward mobility in the future;2)familial context is essential for Children’s bilingual and multilingual competence,especially for younger children;3)family language policies are vital for children to develop bilingual and multilingual competence if parents communicate with them in their own mother tongues;4)greater commitment is required from non-Chinese parent in order to foster child’s interest in his/her native tongue.Lack of willingness to do so is likely to result in monolingual children.The study also reveals parental anxiety about their children’s bilingual and multilingual development and documents the various proactive and reactive strategies they adopt to enhance their children’s language capital.