Macao stories: deciphering the evolution of the language questions in censuses

Macao, a melting pot of Eastern and Western cultures, is often hailed as a ‘linguistic museum’ due to its rich, multilingual environment. This study systematically analyzes an underexplored facet of Macao's language situations: the design and evolution of language questions in its census questionnaires. While previous research primarily focused on analyzing language data from these censuses, our study shifts the lens to the questionnaires themselves, tracing their development across five censuses from 1981 to 2021. We compared global questionnaires and integrated insights from prior research to provide a thorough analysis. A key finding is the shift in linguistic preferences, notably the rising prominence of Mandarin over Portuguese and Cantonese, mirroring Macao's alignment with broader Chinese policies. The study reveals a distinct evolutionary pattern in the design of language questions, transitioning from initial dependency to stages of independence, prototype development, stabilization, and finally maturity. This evolution represents not merely technical development but a discourse practice that, through discourse planning, influences language security and ultimately relates to national security considerations. Macao's experience in this evolution offers valuable insights for policymakers worldwide in the domain of language policy and planning.