A Study of the Spread of Min, Yue and Hakka in Indonesia from the Perspective of Chinese Immigrants

Shan Yunming and ANGELINE

Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning ›› 2025, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (2) : 23-35.

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Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning ›› 2025, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (2) : 23-35. DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20250203

A Study of the Spread of Min, Yue and Hakka in Indonesia from the Perspective of Chinese Immigrants

  • Shan Yunming and ANGELINE
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Abstract

Indonesia is one of the countries with a large population of Chinese who mainly use Min, Yue and Hakka. This study aims to investigate the effects of Chinese immigrants on the spread of these Chinese dialects in Indonesia. With the employment of various methods such as documents, questionnaires, interviews, and field surveys, this study describes the spread of these Chinese dialects from multiple perspectives. The findings are as follows: 1) Chinese dialects are more widely used than Indonesian in the family domain, and act as the second lingua franca in other domains. 2) There are signs of the spread of Chinese dialects among local Indonesians. 3) Inter-generation transmission is strong for Min and Hakka but weak for Yue, and differences in terms of language vitality result in language shift. 4) As a kind of bottom-up language spread, the spread of Chinese dialects in Indonesia depends on the emotional attachment of the Indonesian Chinese to the land of their ancestors. 5) Chinese dialects play multiple roles in Indonesian Chinese identification, emotional attachment to the land of their ancestors, Chinese learning, communication, and inheritance of Chinese civilization.

Key words

Indonesia / Chinese / immigrants / Chinese dialects / overseas spread

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Shan Yunming and ANGELINE. A Study of the Spread of Min, Yue and Hakka in Indonesia from the Perspective of Chinese Immigrants[J]. Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning. 2025, 10(2): 23-35 https://doi.org/10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20250203

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