L2 Journal

This ethnographic study examines language ideologies and practices in Chinese American families in the U.S. in the post-pandemic era. Our specific focus here is the families’ use of a dialect of Southwest Mandarin, Wuhanhua (literally, “Wuhan Vernacular”), with their children at a time when Wuhan was marked by stigma due to its association with the initial COVID-19 outbreak. In our ten-month longitudinal study with the three focal families who came from Wuhan, each with U.S.-born children, data were generated from home visits, semi-structured interviews, and audio-recorded family interactions. While the three families shared a prevalent adherence to Standard Mandarin, our results show how the parents’ stated ideologies become contested in their everyday language practices. These ambiguities and inconsistencies in the planning and regulation of Wuhanhua use at home illuminate the translocal nature of heritage language learning, which is shaped not only by movement between countries but also by connections to specific localities.