Language Rights in a Changing China: A National Overview and Zhuang Case Study (Contributions to the Sociology of Language [CSL], 113)

Alexandra Grey

ISBN 10: 1501521004 ISBN 13: 9781501521003

Verlag: De Gruyter Mouton, 2022

Inhaltsangabe

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.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Alexandra Grey, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

China has had constitutional minority language rights for decades, but how are they put into practice today? This book provides nuanced and timely answers through a legal and critical sociolinguistic analysis of the largest minority language, Zhuang, using original, ethnographic data collected in four provinces of China. It is a thought-provoking work for those interested in minority rights and language politics, relevant beyond China.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: De Gruyter Mouton
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1501521004
• ISBN 13: 9781501521003
• Einband: Broschiert
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 342
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland