Sacrificing dialects and indigenous languages for progress

Good Morning Cape Town with Lester Kiewit

South Africa has numerous official languages, which some have argued is a barrier to economic success as there is no common language which everyone is compelled to communicate in. Over in China, many regional dialects have been taken over by Mandarin, otherwise referred to as Putonghua (common language), and some believe that this is one of the reasons behind China’s phenomenal economic growth in recent decades. Lester Kiewit speaks to Stephen Matthews, emeritus professor from the Department of Linguistics at Hong Kong University, where he specialises in language typology, syntax and semantics. The topic of discussion is whether the once-popular Cantonese dialect is being erased in favour of Mandarin.

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