Abstract
ABSTRACT Despite having numerous Chinese language varieties and non-Chinese ethnic minority languages, China is often considered a monolingual nation (Liang, Sihua. 2015. Language Attitudes and Identities in Multilingual China: A Linguistic Ethnography. London: Springer, 154). The country’s strong monolingual language policy heavily promotes a single standard language – Putonghua. Recently, scholars have begun to investigate ‘regional Putonghua’ varieties, contact varieties that have emerged from standard language promotion and community second language acquisition (e.g. Xiao, Jinsong. 2007. “Putonghua Zhongjieyu Yanjiu Shuping.” Journal of Yunyang Normal College 27 (2): 119–122). This paper analyses data collected from Weibo, China’s online microblogging site, to investigate the language ideologies surrounding these ‘non-standard’ regional varieties. Two cities (Ningbo and Shanghai) and their local Putonghua varieties are examined: the cities share a similar linguistic background but Shanghai is more economically advanced than its neighbouring city Ningbo, and the language varieties in Shanghai are also believed to have more prestige (Zhou, Minglang. 2001. “The Spread of Putonghua and Language Attitude Changes in Shanghai and Guangzhou, China.” Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 11 (2): 231–253). Discourse analysis on Weibo posts allows us to show how regional Putonghua varieties are portrayed and perceived by laypeople and how they exist as ‘non-standard’ varieties in the shadow of the strong standard language ideology. These ‘non-standard’ varieties are associated with rich language ideologies and social meanings and their links to both negative cultural stereotypes and positive local identities often associated with vernacular varieties are also discussed.
Highlights
Language ideologies and language attitudes have been widely studied in the context of English and other European languages (Lippi-Green 2012; Vessey 2016)
By studying the language ideology embedded in Chinese social media (Sina Weibo) posts about two spoken varieties (Ningbo and Shanghai Putonghua), this paper examines how language ideology is expressed in the online context where a ‘hybrid’ genre of written and spoken communication is used (Thurlow and Mroczek 2011), regarding different spoken varieties with no ‘standard’ written form, and in doing so, contributes to our understanding of three interlinked yet under-researched areas in the study of language ideology, namely non-European, spoken and online languages
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) focuses on the critical examination of the power structure and ideology produced and reproduced by language users within the broader social context, allowing an investigation into how Chinese social media users engage with language ideology in a country with a prevailing standard language ideology (SLI)
Summary
Language ideologies and language attitudes have been widely studied in the context of English and other European languages (Lippi-Green 2012; Vessey 2016). Existing studies on language ideology in mass media have found standard language ideology (SLI) to be a dominating ideology, often linking different (spoken and written) language varieties to idealised written standards (Lippi-Green 2012, 67). Recent research on pluricentricity in Western contexts has begun to challenge this view (Grondelaers and van Hout 2010), relevant research on non-Western languages, many of which are, pluricentric, remains underdeveloped.
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