Dialect Islands Formed by Chun'an Immigrants: A Case Study of Two Villages Emigrated from Linqi Town

Abstract

In the 1960s, to construct the Xin'anjiang Hydropower Station, the first large hydropower station designed by New China, nearly 300,000 inhabitants of Chun'an County in Zhejiang Province from 1,377 villages migrated to Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangxi Provinces, forming many “immigrant villages”and giving rise to dialect islands. Although there are many studies on the history and current situation of these immigrants, there is a gap in the analysis of the resulting dialect island phenomenon. In this study, through an offline field study combined with an online survey, we collected information from immigrants or their descendants in Chatian Town, Longquan City, Zhejiang Province, and Yantian Town, Anfu County, Jiangxi Province, who emigrated from Linqi Town, Zhejiang Province. We surveyed their language proficiency, language acquisition, language use, language attitudes, identification with their hometown in Chun'an, as well as their viewing habits and attitudes toward dialect short videos. This study foundthat most of the villagers in the dialect islands have the ability to speak three language variants, namely the Chun'an dialect, the dialect of their place of relocation, and Mandarin. However, Mandarin is gradually replacing the other two dialects as a standardized language with visible prestige; the promotion of dialect uses through new media, such as short videos, is particularly urgent for the inheritance of the Chun'an dialect and the propagation of the Chun’an immigrants’ hometown culture.