In my narrative, my Cantonese classmates’ attitudes towards Mandarin can to some extent be seen as microcosms of the changing attitudes of Chinese society towards minorities and their languages. The difference is that in my situation, I was the “minority” because the majority of my class spoke Cantonese. And Mandarin underwent a shift as moving from the dominant language to the minor language. In this chapter, the policymakers stand for the majority of people in China. They redefine the relationship between dialects and Mandarin because dialects “facilitate communications among people in dialect communities and enables family members to express their feelings and ideas.” (Guo 49) Similarly, my classmates reconsidered the relationship between Mandarin and Cantonese after I started to speak Cantonese. This practice of dialects is also where I went beyond the politicians described in the article since they did not show any willingness to speak dialects in this article. Probably because of this, not only were my Cantonese classmates able to treat Mandarin with equality at last, they even went a little further than the people in the Chinese society who treated dialects with prejudice: they practiced Mandarin themselves, too. In my narrative, they performed the birthday song in Mandarin. The similarity of these two processes helps me understand how people gradually accept a language that is “minor” to them while the difference helps me to see how this change of attitudes also takes place when the roles of Mandarin and dialects are shifted.
Furthermore, the content of this chapter is closely related to the first source I cited. Both texts illustrate the official forces’ change of attitudes towards dialects. However, in the first source, Erbaugh mainly focuses on how the minorities themselves struggled to gain acceptance from others. She also analyzes the change in social and psychological status of these language minorities. Nevertheless, Guo explores more about how the policymaker’s decisions motivate the development of dialects. It complements the positive role of the government which is missing in the former source. The content of this chapter enables me to develop on the answer I have so far, that is, we cannot view Mandarin and dialects as completely opposing forces. When dialects promote the development of society, Mandarin and dialects can coexist. Yet, this does not mean there is no longer a war between them. The struggle, open or secret, between Mandarin and dialects has never ceased for a minute, even till now when the policymakers claim in public they would treat dialects equally, and this can be disclosed in the next source.
Furthermore, the content of this chapter is closely related to the first source I cited. Both texts illustrate the official forces’ change of attitudes towards dialects. However, in the first source, Erbaugh mainly focuses on how the minorities themselves struggled to gain acceptance from others. She also analyzes the change in social and psychological status of these language minorities. Nevertheless, Guo explores more about how the policymaker’s decisions motivate the development of dialects. It complements the positive role of the government which is missing in the former source. The content of this chapter enables me to develop on the answer I have so far, that is, we cannot view Mandarin and dialects as completely opposing forces. When dialects promote the development of society, Mandarin and dialects can coexist. Yet, this does not mean there is no longer a war between them. The struggle, open or secret, between Mandarin and dialects has never ceased for a minute, even till now when the policymakers claim in public they would treat dialects equally, and this can be disclosed in the next source.