The limits of multicultural language policy: family reproduction and everyday Hakka language use in Taiwan

This article examines the limits of state-led multicultural language policy by analyzing everyday Hakka language use in Taiwan. Drawing on the 2021 Survey on National Hakka Population and Language Basic Data, multivariate regression models examine associations between everyday Hakka use and early-life ethnolinguistic environments, family language environments, institutional accessibility, attitudes toward intergenerational transmission and language education, and birth cohort. Results show that family language environments are the strongest predictor of everyday Hakka use. Early-life ethnolinguistic environments, institutional accessibility, intergenerational transmission, and Hakka educational priority are also positively associated with Hakka use. Younger respondents report lower levels of Hakka use than older respondents. Interaction models further show that the positive associations of family and institutional language environments with Hakka use weaken among younger cohorts. These findings suggest that multicultural recognition and public accessibility alone are insufficient to sustain intergenerational language transmission. Minority-language revitalization also depends on the reproduction of language within everyday family and community contexts. By highlighting the gap between symbolic recognition and lived linguistic practice, this article shows how state-led revitalization efforts are socially mediated across generations.