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Abstract
A major language shift in Singapore over the last twenty years has been from familial use of varieties of Chinese other than Mandarin towards the languages of education, English and Mandarin. This has been so rapid that grandchildren may have no language in common with their grandparents. An ethnographic study of a Singaporean Chinese family which has moved from Cantonese to English examines the attitudes and societal pressures which have led to this and shows how family members deal with the discrepancies in language repertoire.
Notes
Siew was a student at the National University of Singapore on leave from the Ministry of Education, to which she continues to be attached. We would like to thank the Ministry of Education for their permission to publish this paper.