Ludzie, Język I Przestrzeń – Co Mówi Nam Krajobraz Multilingwistyczny Kuala Lumpur O Mniejszości Chińskiej W Malezji
Published Online: Sep 20, 2024
Page range: 85 - 100
Received: Mar 18, 2024
Accepted: Aug 08, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48128/pisg-2024-69.3-05
Keywords
© 2024 Aleksandra Wardzyńska et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The aim of this paper is to present the traces of the Chinese minority and their language in the urban space of Kuala Lumpur, based on a field survey of the multilingual landscape conducted in the capital of Malaysia in March 2023. The presented results prove the dominance of English over both Chinese and Malay in the urban space, which is a testament to Malaysia’s colonial heritage and contemporary globalization processes. On the other hand, the presence of the Chinese language, not only in Chinatown but in each of the surveyed streets outside the district, is evidence of the still vibrant need to preserve and display this element of Chinese culture in the city’s public spaces. However, considering current regulations and monolingual state policy, the future of the Chinese minority in Malaysia is in question.