Languages For Identity And Communication: An Ecological Study Of Mandarin, English And Dialect In Suzhou

This research is designed to explore language for identity and communication in Suzhou through the analysis of the ecosystem, including the microsystem, mesosystem and macrosystem. The originality lies in the ecolinguistic study of the complex language condition in Suzhou which provides an innovative way of the empirical investigation. Moreover, it is another attempt on the application of ecolinguistics developed by Einar Haugen in 1970 into the maintenance of diverse languages and the preservation of minority languages to testify its practicality and usefulness.In this research, the author tries to find answers to these questions: 1.What socio-economic phenomena underlie the processes of language shift and changes in Suzhou? 2. What role does language play in realizing the functions of identity and communication? The author hopes the answers will attract more attention of linguists or other experts which in turn can lead to the future discussions on the role that language plays in maintaining the diversity, sustainability and peace of different cultures from an ecolinguistic perspective.Through the ecolinguistic analysis and statistical calculation of the percentage of different aspects in language use and attitudes of speakers in Suzhou, this study finds that, as an economically developed and traditional city, Mandarin has acquired the status of dominant language, English has become a"high language"while Suzhou dialect has reduced to a minority language. The language shift reveals the ecosystemic changes happened in Suzhou, especially the macrosystemic changes including the linguistic nationalism, the spread of English and the national flow of labours. All these important factors have led to the endangerment of the loss of Suzhou dialect which should attract more attention from the whole society.