A rhizomatic account of heritage language

This chapter explains heritage language as a product of interactions between users and their environments. It examines the development of heritage language as a rhizomatic system, an imagery that resembles Atkinson’s “rainforest” and “lush ecology” imagery. The chapter proposes that the nature of Chinese migrations throughout history constitutes a rhizomatic pattern of diasporas that share certain cultural traditions but are rooted in diverse routes in different environments. It focuses on the particular branch of the Chinese diaspora in order to discuss how heritage language is redefined among the Sinophone Singapore community with the nation’s independence. The focus on the functionality of bilingualism is the government’s way of claiming its promotion of fairness and equality for everyone in the burgeoning nation, regardless of race, class, ethnicity, and religion. The suppression of Sinitic dialects became official with the launch of the “Speak Mandarin” campaign on September 7, 1979.