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Article published In: Linguistic Landscape
Vol. 7:3 (2021) ► pp.259–284

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Perceptions of invisible Zhuang minority language in Linguistic Landscapes of the People’s Republic of China and implications for language policy

ORCiD logo with link | University of Technology Sydney
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 25 May 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.20012.gre
Abstract
The article presents data from a 2013–2019 ethnography of Zhuang language policy to support an analysis of implications for language policy research and scholarship of findings about the (in)visibility of publicly displayed Zhuang. The analysis challenges core assumptions of language policy-making, advocacy and scholarship and explicates the general implications of this challenge beyond China, particularly for minority languages. The most important assumption that this article interrogates is that a written language on display will be recognised as that language by its speakers. Further, it argues that literacy, script, and other language policies impact on display policies and must work together; they do not in the Zhuang case. In making a case for language policy informed by ethnographic research, this article reviews the foundations of socially-situated analyses of Linguistic Landscapes. To galvanise further such research and articulate it to policy-makers, the article employs the term ‘lived landscape approach’.
Abstrait
L’article présente les données d’une ethnographie 2013–2019 de la politique linguistique zhuang qui incluent un résultat remarquable : la (in)visibilité de la langue zhuang, même de le zhuang qui est affichée publiquement. Il présente ces données à l’appui d’une analyse des implications pour les recherches sur les politiques linguistiques. L’analyse remet en question les hypothèses fondamentales de l’élaboration des politiques linguistiques, du plaidoyer et des recherches. L’analyse esquisse les implications générales de ce défi au-delà de la Chine, en particulier pour les langues minoritaires. L’hypothèse la plus importante que cet article interroge est qu’une langue écrite et exposée en publique sera reconnue comme cette langue-ci par ses locuteurs. En outre, elle fait valoir que la politique quant à l’alphabétisation, au script et d’autres politiques linguistiques ont une incidence sur les politiques d’affichage et doivent travailler ensemble; ils ne travaillent pas ensemble dans l’affaire Zhuang. En faisant un cas pour la politique linguistique informé par la recherche ethnographique, cet article passe en revue les fondements des analyses socialement situées des Linguistic Landscapes (« paysages linguistiques »). Pour galvaniser davantage ces recherches et les articuler aux décideurs politiques, l’article utilise le terme “Lived Landscape Approach” (« approche du paysage vécu »).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Situating this article within the literature
    • 1.2Method
    • 1.3Background on linguistic landscape policy in Nanning
  • 2.Results
    • 2.1Authorship patterns and standard formats of Zhuang-inclusive signage
    • 2.2Intersubjective interactions with Zhuang-inclusive signage
  • 3.Discussion: How subjective invisibility disturbs assumptions underpinning language policy
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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