An overview of the “Protecting Cantonese Movement” in Guangzhou (2010–2021)

Abstract

Abstract A decade ago, an online survey resulted in the “Protecting Cantonese Movement” (PCM) in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, around which some articles were produced. Based on the bibliometric analysis of data retrieved from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the Web of Science, and Google Scholar keyword searches during 2010 and 2021, this paper reviews the PCM literature to summarize its major features and general trends. It reveals that the published journals or newspaper articles focus on interpretating PCM, analyzing its causes from sociocultural, sociolinguistic, socioeconomic and media environmental perspectives, and proposing countermeasures and suggestions at political, ideological and sociolinguistic environmental levels. It concludes that PCM is of far-reaching significance to the continuous research ranging from Cantonese preserving, promotion of Mandarin, language planning, language policy, and language conflict to language ecology.

Keywords

• The “Protecting Cantonese Movement” (PCM)
• Language maintenance
• Sociocultural context
• Sociolinguistic context
• Media environment
• Guangzhou