Vollmann, Ralf & Soon Tek Wooi 2021. Multilingualism and the role of standar- dised languages: Malaysian Hakka Chinese. In Fabiana Fusco & Carla Marcato & Renato Oniga (eds), Studi sul Plurilinguismo. Tematiche, problemi, prospetive, 197-218. Udine: Forum. Multilingualism and the role of standardised languages: Malaysian Hakka Chinese Ralf Vollmann & Tek Wooi Soon Background. Modern standard languages lead to language shif among speakers of minority languages and dialects. Malaysia is a multilingual society with four standard languages (Malaysian, English, Chinese, Tamil), beside a number of spoken languages (such as South Chinese languages). Material & method. Data from Malaysian citizens with Hakka family background were collected and analyzed for linguistic variation and the role of standard languages in language use and language shif. Analysis. (a) A domain analysis provides evidence for the Malaysian ‘horizontal’ multilingualism of spoken languages and its partial replacement by a ‘vertical’ multilingualism of orate and literate registers of stan- dardised languages. (b) Conversations are characterized by code-mixing; lan- guage choice depends on the addressees; semantic felds trigger specifc lexemes from specifc languages. (c) Localised variants of standard languages serve meso- lectal communication and support a broader identity as Malaysian Chinese. Linguistic competence in standardised languages varies in dependence of educational background and gives way to orate and literate registers. Conclu- sions. Traditional multilingualism of spoken languages in Malaysia gives way to a ‘modern’ multilingualism of international standard languages which unfold into sociolectal registers. 1. Background 1.1. Horizontal and vertical multilingualism In traditional cultures, language education and writing is restricted to a small class of experts; their writen language is used only for specifc purposes, even the majority of the educated people is restricted to listening or reading. In this situation, smaller local languages (and dialects) coexist, which is why for wider communication, it is necessary to learn other local languages, i.e., the linguistic competence is mostly extended horizontally; the writen language cannot infuence the speech of simple people very much, but exists only in its own, separate functional domains. Over time, linguistic necessities may lead to a lingua franca which is adopted by speakers of diferent languages (and dialects) for wider communicative needs. In modern societies, people may still speak dialects and minority languages, but also atend school in the form of general education and thereby adopt a stan- dard language as well as other foreign standard languages. Tese languages are more easily accessible through standardised grammars, a codifed lexicon, and the educational training to creatively use this language in elaborated forms. States usually pursue a language policy promoting such a standard language through education and regulations, and basilectal varieties will be increasingly infuenced and eventually absorbed by the standard language as registers of that language. Te former horizontally multilingual competence has then turned into 1