Abstract
This is a pilot study of how Mandarin speakers adjust their speech to suit the new environment they find upon coming to live in Australia, or more specifically Darwin. It is based largely on seven hours of recorded dinnertime conversation among Mandarin speakers who have lived in Australia for less than four years. As one might expect, these speakers tend to resort to English for referring to Australian places and institutions, sometimes for concepts one might expect to be expressed in Chinese, such as 'fence'. Anecdotal and interview data brings out such other aspects as Southeast Asian influences on the Mandarin spoken in Darwin, while an analysis of a bilingual Chinese- English publication from the Perth area shows how Australian concepts are rendered into Chinese in print.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Refereed Proceedings |
| Subtitle of host publication | Applied Linguistics Association Annual Conference 2012 |
| Editors | C Conlan |
| Place of Publication | Perth, WA |
| Publisher | School of Education, Curtin University |
| Pages | 525-547 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Edition | 1 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-9874158-2-0 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |
| Event | Applied Linguistics Association of Australia National Conference (ALAA 2012): Evolving Paradigms: Language and Applied Linguistics in a Changing World - Perth, WA, Perth, Australia Duration: 12 Nov 2012 → 14 Nov 2012 Conference number: 2012 |
Conference
| Conference | Applied Linguistics Association of Australia National Conference (ALAA 2012) |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | ALAA |
| Country/Territory | Australia |
| City | Perth |
| Period | 12/11/12 → 14/11/12 |