The Linguistic Vitality of Chinese in the United States
In: Heritage language journal, Band 10, Heft 3, S. 294-304
ISSN: 1550-7076
This article examines the current status of Chinese as a heritage language (CHL) in the United States, referring to the Capacity-Opportunity-Desire (COD) framework (Grin, 1990, 2003; LoBianco, 2008). After briefly describing the linguistic profile of Chinese immigrants in the United States, the current status and future prospects of CHL in the United States are discussed. Thearticle concludes that a wide variety of programs are available to CHLspeakers, compared to those available decades ago. However, heritage speakers' capacity in Chinese will be developed only when they have opportunities to use thelanguage and a desire to learn it.