This book makes an original contribution to the fields of
sociolinguistics, language planning policy and Chinese language studies.
It examines the effectiveness of the Singapore's Speak Mandarin Campaign
in changing the language use of dialect speakers towards
Mandarin.Singapore may be only "a small red dot" and barely visible on
the world's map. However, its complex and dynamic linguistic diversity
and its quadrilingual educational system make it a unique and
fascinating research site for examining deliberate language planning on
the part of governmental authorities. 2017 marks the 38th anniversary of
the Speak Mandarin Campaign, a focused language-planning policy aimed at
changing the deeply entrenched sociolinguistic habits of Chinese
Singaporeans who are used to speaking Chinese dialects. This book
provides a revealing update on dialect speakers' attitudes towards the
campaign by including discussions and other related issues such as the
recent call for the revitalisation of Chinese dialects by younger
dialect speakers, Chinese students' attitude towards learning Mandarin
in schools, the encroachment of English in the home environment, the
spread and dominance of English in the local linguistic landscape, and
the challenges of maintaining Mandarin as a language of use and
preference.