Chinatown Chinese: A Linguistic And Historical Re-evaluation

Abstract

The linguistic composition and social and historical context of the Chinese language in America have been long neglected by linguists and scholars of Asian American history. Perhaps one of the earliest attempts to break into this new territory is the recent article in Amerasiu 7: 1 (1980) entitled “Chinatown Chinese: The San Francisco Dialect” by Lorraine Dong and Marlon K. Hom. This article is significant in planting seeds for future research on the Chinese language both in America and in overseas communities. In this short paper, we will provide some critical comments concerning the Dong and Hom article, and suggest some directions for future research. Our critique consists of two major parts. The first deals with the article from a strictly linguistic perspective, with an attempt to refine the claims of Dong and Hom. The second part of the critique demonstrates that the linguistic perspective is intrinsically interwoven with other phenomena, social, cultural and historical in origin, which together can provide a multifaceted perspective on the Chinese American experience.