Posted: August 27th, 2022

Hi, my name is (Name),
I was born in China before relocating to Toronto, Canada; a city that is composed with a lot of migrants. Just like in the United States, Canada has transformed to a melting pot of people from different backgrounds. Statistics has indicated that about one in five people in Canada are reported to be speaking in their mother tongue although English is the most spoken language (StudyCountry, 2017).
Although am fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English language my origin as an Asian has greatly influenced how I speak which was different from those around me. Since most people in Toronto are immigrants, the sociolinguistic discourse in this area is multilingual and there is heavy presence of multiculturalism (Narcitytoronto, 2016). This is not the same case in China where the dominant sociolinguistic discourse is bilingual and it’s deep-rooted on identity (Castello, 2013). I found it stressful to switch from Mandarin to English as these two languages are different in terms of grammar and intonation. Most people in my community prefer using English to their mother tongue though it’s not the same case to me.
Basically, linguistics tries to understand the nature of communication and the use of language in the community (University of Arizona, n.d.). One of my aunts worked as an interpreter in UN, and I believed that linguistics were people who could speak different languages and they worked in the United Nations as interpreters. This is where I got an interest to study in linguistics. I am interested in taking a course in sociolinguistics because sociolinguistics is not like semantic or syntax as it is associated with our daily activities and social environment. I would like to learn about language secessionism in China because over the years there has been a debate about separating the Cantonese as a separate language (Gao, 2017). I would like to learn about it so as to understand the underlying principles about secessionism in linguistics

References
Castello D. (2013). Cantonese and Mandarin: Different Dialects or Different Languages?(Doctoral dissertation, University of Birmingham , Birmingham, United Kingdom). Retrieved from https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-artslaw/cels/essays/sociolinguistics/Cantonese-and-Mandarin-Different-Dialects-or-Different-Languages.pdf
Gao, S. (2017, June). Is Cantonese a Language or a Dialect? Why Does it Matter? Retrieved from https://theculturetrip.com/asia/china/articles/is-cantonese-a-language-or-a-dialect-why-does-it-matter/
Narcitytoronto. (2016, November 23). Why Toronto Is The Most Multicultural City In The World. Retrieved from https://www.narcity.com/ca/on/toronto/lifestyle/why-toronto-is-the-most-multicultural-city-in-the-world
StudyCountry. (2017). The Languages spoken in Canada. Retrieved from https://www.studycountry.com/guide/CA-language.htm
University of Arizona. (n.d.). What is linguistics and why study it? | The Department of Linguistics. Retrieved from https://linguistics.arizona.edu/content/what-linguistics-and-why-study-it-0

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