Language Rights in a Changing China: A National Overview and Zhuang Case Study

Alexandra Grey

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2021

Language Rights in a Changing China

A National Overview and Zhuang Case Study

Alexandra Grey

Volume 113 in the series Contributions to the Sociology of Language [CSL]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501512551

Overview
Contents

About this book

Joshua A. Fishman Award winner 2018

China has had constitutional minority language rights for decades, but what do they mean today? Answering with nuance and empirical detail, this book examines the rights through a sociolinguistic study of Zhuang, the language of China’s largest minority group. The analysis traces language policy from the Constitution to local government practices, investigating how Zhuang language rights are experienced as opening or restricting socioeconomic opportunity. The study finds that language rights do not challenge ascendant marketised and mobility-focused language ideologies which ascribe low value to Zhuang. However, people still value a Zhuang identity validated by government policy and practice.

Rooted in a Bourdieusian approach to language, power and legal discourse, this is the first major publication to integrate contemporary debates in linguistics about mobility, capitalism and globalization into a study of China’s language policy.

The book refines Grey’s award-winning doctoral dissertation, which received the Joshua A. Fishman Award in 2018. The judges said the study “decenter[s] all types of sociolinguistic assumptions." It is a thought-provoking work on minority rights and language politics, relevant beyond China.

Author / Editor information

Alexandra Grey, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	XI
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	XV
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	XVII
Part I: Foundations
1 An ethnographic study of contemporary Chinese language rights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 What is Zhuang? A critical sociolinguistic profile Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	34
Part II: Laws and Governance Structures
3 The foundational language rights: Legal provisions about minority languages and minority peoples Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
4 Beliefs about law and language Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
5 The structural distribution of language governance powers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
Part III: Lived Linguistic Landscapes
6 Visual ideologies of Zhuang in linguistic landscapes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
7 New semiotic displays of old “Zhuangness” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
8 The multiple meanings of Zhuang displays in lived landscapes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
9 Linguascaping through language policy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Part IV: Conclusions
10 Summary and conclusions regarding language rights in a changing China Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
11 General implications for language rights and policy research and practice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	294
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	305
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	315
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Researchers and Students
Pages
- Front matter: 18
- Main content: 342
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 6
- Coloured Illustrations: 53
- Tables: 4
Keywords: Minority Languages; Language Policy; Ethnography; Zhuang

eBook

Published: May 10, 2021
ISBN: 9781501512551

Hardcover

Published: May 10, 2021
ISBN: 9781501517747

Paperback

Published: December 19, 2022
ISBN: 9781501521003