Language Maintenance and Cultural Viability in the Hainanese Community: A Case Study of the Melaka Hainanese

Among the different (Chinese) dialect groups from the southern region of China that migrated to Malaya (now Malaysia) in the 1900s, the Hainanese were one of the last migrant groups to arrive thus they comprise only about three percent of the population of the Chinese linguistic groups living in Malaysia. Unlike Cantonese and Hokkien (also southern China vernaculars) which became the lingua franca of the Chinese communities in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Melaka respectively, Hainanese is not spoken as a major Chinese dialect in any particular city, town, or state in Malaysia although there may be a majority of Hainanese living in a geographical area. In a case study of the Hainanese community in Melaka, responses from interviews with community members confirm that the dialect is not being maintained as the main means of communication in the friendship and home domains. This paper reports that while video recordings of celebrations of cultural festivals, pastimes and Hainanese family businesses indicate a fair degree of cultural viability in the community due to the great sense of bonding (known as suukee nang) among members of the community, lack of communication in Hainanese does not bode well for the maintenance of the community language. The study concludes that while Hainanese culture (its sense of belonging and popular cuisine) is still viable, the same cannot be said for its language; in short, much of the dialect is not likely to survive for the next generation unless efforts are in place to revitalize this native language.