Examining Use of Dialects in Cinema: The Role of Movies in the Spread and the Maintenance of Chinese Dialects

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of the use of dialects in films, highlighting the extent to which films play a role in the spread and the maintenance of dialects in modern-day China. The researcher adopts a multi-method approach (literature review, interview and observation) to collect and analyze the data. The research findings confirm two positive correlations: the interdependent relationship between the number of the productions of television series (and films) which employ particular Chinese dialects and the distribution of the dialect in question, as well as the number of dialectal speakers and the maintenance of the dialect under investigation.