Language maintenance and language shift among Chinese American young adults in the greater New York City area

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the status of Chinese language maintenance and language shift among Chinese American young adults in the greater New York City area.;A variety of data collection methods were employed. First, a survey of 40 questions were administered to and collected from 185 Chinese American students at SUNY-Stony Brook and BMCC/CUNY. Second, 18 of the 185 subjects were selected for follow-up interviews. Third, participant observations were conducted of the subjects' homes, communities, and campus organizations.;A number of statistical procedures were used to analyze the data collected from the survey. First, descriptive statistics was used to measure the percentages, means, and standard deviations of all the variables. Second, reliability tests were run through the grouped variables to insure that the groupings were statistically warranted. Third, chi square tests of interdependence were applied to test the strength of association between the grouped variables.;Several conclusions may be drawn from this study. First, the Chinese language is better maintained in its spoken forms than its written forms. As the primary language of Chinese American homes and communities, Chinese is of limited use outside of the communities and has received very little institutional support from the larger American society by way of education or media.;Second, nativity is the most significant variable in determining Chinese language maintenance. The foreign-born Chinese are significantly better in Chinese language maintenance than their American-born counterparts. Moreover, the age of the foreign-born Chinese upon immigration is positively correlated with their native language maintenance.;Third, socioeconomic status is not a significant variable in determining Chinese language maintenance; however, it does influence the latter indirectly through life-mode and social networks.;Language maintenance efforts on the part of the parents as well as the children have a positive effect on the latter's Chinese language maintenance. However, cultural maintenance efforts have no direct effect on Chinese language maintenance.;Attitude toward Chinese language and ethnicity is an unreliable indicator of Chinese language maintenance. It affects the latter through a variety of intervening variables such as ethnicity and social networks.