Language maintenance and shift in Southern Min and Hakka families in a bilingual speech community

This study investigates the issue of language maintenance and shift in families in a Southern Min-Hakka bilingual speech community, based on questionnaires collected from 256 villagers and 230 community leaders in Hsinfeng, Hsinchu County. The result shows a clear trend of language shift. Subjects consistently use native languages with younger generations less often. And younger subjects use native languages less often than their elders. Besides, Southern Min community leaders significantly use Mandarin more with their children and grandchildren than do other subjects. It is proposed that the difference between Southern Min and Hakka community leaders might be a difference in language attitude.