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This study analyses the evolving means of China's formal language policy on Putonghua and minority languages from 1986 to 2021. This paper identifies four stages based on the shifting focus between Putonghua and minority languages: status planning of the central government (1986–1990), balance via bilingual policy (1991–2000), strong Putonghua spread at all levels (2001–2011), and Putonghua promotion and minority language preservation (2012–2021). Through descriptive and corpus analysis of a self-constructed language policy database, for each stage, we explore the major means stated in policy documents by analysing keywords to explain policy changes with consideration of social conditions. The results show that China has continuously adjusted its formal language policy according to social changes, and that language planning in this emerging economy has been profoundly influenced by national strategy and government administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este trabajo analiza, desde una perspectiva glotopolítica, la conformación y el funcionamiento de una escuela pública bilingüe español-putonghua de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Esta institución y su puesta en funcionamiento evidencian una preocupación por la inclusión educativa de los migrantes chinos y sus descendientes, a la vez que por el mantenimiento y aprendizaje de la lengua de inmigración. A lo largo de este artículo, se mostrará cómo el putonghua se construye como lengua de instrucción, y, al mismo tiempo, como “lengua objeto”, en la normativa legal, las clases y en los discursos de los funcionarios. Sostenemos que la motivación que subyace a la creación de esta escuela es la importancia que el putonghua fue ganando mundialmente en los últimos años.

This paper analyzes, from a glotopolitical perspective, the establishment and functioning of a Spanish-Putonghua bilingual public school in the city of Buenos Aires. This institution and its implementation demonstrate a concern for the educational inclusion of Chinese migrants and their descendants, as well as for the preservation and learning of the immigration language. Throughout this article, we will show how Putonghua is constructed both as a language of instruction and as an "object language" in legal regulations, classes, and in the speeches of officials. We argue that the motivation underlying the creation of this school is the increasing importance that Putonghua has gained globally in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effect of Mandarin proficiency on poverty reduction and its mechanism. The China General Social Survey (CGSS) is taken as the data source. From the perspective of social integration, the poverty reduction effect of Putonghua and its mechanism are empirically studied from the perspective of social interaction, social fairness, and social trust. The findings showed that improving the ability to listen and speak Mandarin positively affects social interaction, social trust, and social fairness. It showed that Putonghua proficiency positively correlates with the suppression of economic poverty. After the occurrence of poverty, whether a sample of absolute poverty or relative poverty, the ability to listen and speak in Mandarin has a specific inhibitory effect on social interaction, social trust, and social fairness. After the occurrence of poverty, the frequency of social interaction, social trust, and social public since have been reduced to a certain extent. Specifically, the ability to express Mandarin has shown remarkable results in improving social interaction, and the ability to listen among ordinary people has shown remarkable results in enhancing social fairness. The results of this paper provide empirical evidence of poverty alleviation in China via Improving Mandarin Proficiency. This research is also of great significance for optimizing poverty alleviation paths through language in the post-poverty alleviation era.

Vector models based on word embeddings are an indispensable part of advanced Natural Language Processing research and language analysis. We describe several Chinese language (Pǔtōnghuà) word embeddings, the differences from "western" language models caused by specific orthographic and linguistic features of the written Chinese language, and introduce a publicly available web interface for querying the vector models, aimed at linguistically or pedagogically oriented users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this editorial introduction, we present what motivated us to organise this collection of studies on family language policy and planning (FLPP) in the Chinese contexts. In order to better understand why ethnic minority languages and fangyans (also known as dialects or regionalects) are challenged by the official Chinese language, Putonghua, the introduction situates this group of studies in the disciplinary context, and proposes the family as a critical site where macro and meso language policies penetrate the private domain and influence the process of family language decisions. By looking at the interactions between families, schools, communities and workplaces, we can also trace the sociolinguistic and political environments in which language shift takes place. In the discussion of these contextual factors in China, we argue for the need to explore family and language changes in Chinese contexts. The introduction concludes with an overview of the studies included in this special issue, highlighting the key claims put forward by the contributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the connections between educational language policy for Uyghur youth and the language ideologies among Uyghur families. Chinese language policy has historically accommodated multilingualism, and promoted minoritized language education; however, we reveal how policies have shifted towards favoring and promoting Putonghua (only) as the lingua franca. We then present interview data collected from four Uyghur youth attending university, all of whom are the targets of Uyghur language policy in China. In many ways, Chinese language policy has had the desired effect on these students. We provide a historical overview of educational language policy in China, with a focus on its impact on Uyghur speakers, and then illuminate how language attitudes and ideologies circulate through official policy texts, among families, and among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study investigates how a cohort of Myanmar ethnic minority students' language ideologies shape their Putonghua learning and educational trajectories at government schools and Chinese supplementary schools in the borderland next to China. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and from the participants' autobiographies on their language learning experiences. The findings indicate that Myanmar ethnic minority students are often linguistically and culturally excluded in government schools because of their lack of proficiency in the Burmese language. Yet having access to Putonghua and other Chinese-related resources provides them with an agentive strategy and capital to reposition themselves from being a disadvantaged ethnic minority group in a peripheral region to moving towards full inclusion and empowerment as part of China. The paper highlights the multiplicity and contested nature of language ideologies that mediate between learners' language practices and social structures during socio-economic transformations. It also sheds light on Myanmar's language policy-making and the expansion of China's soft power through the increasing capital of Putonghua in the borderland of neighbouring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor phonological development adversely affects language development and interpersonal communication abilities in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, the characteristics of phonological development in children with ASD who speak Putonghua (the official standard spoken form of modern Mandarin Chinese) remain largely unknown. This study aims to investigate phonological acquisition and development among Putonghua-speaking children with ASD. Data were collected from participants recruited in Shanghai, China. Two experiments were conducted. In experiment I, phonological acquisition was compared between 16 children with ASD aged 3–6 years and 16 age-matched typically developing (TD) children. In experiment II, phonological acquisition was compared between 26 children with ASD over 6 years old and 26 receptive-language-age-matched TD children. Picture naming was applied to measure participants' phonology – the 21 initials, 36 finals and four tones of Putonghua. Paired-samples t-tests and Fisher's exact tests were applied. In experiment I, scores on initials, finals, tones and total phonology of children with ASD aged 3–6 years were significantly lower than those of age-matched TD children. The pronunciation accuracy rates for initials such as/x, th, l/, finals such as/jaʊ, joʊ, wo/ and Tone 3 (the low-rising tone) in the ASD group were significantly lower than in the TD group. In experiment II, there was no significant difference in overall phonological developmental level between children with ASD over 6 years old and receptive-language-age-matched TD children. Phonological development of Putonghua-speaking children with ASD was significantly lower than that of age-matched TD children but closer to that of receptive-language-age-matched TD children. Further, participants with ASD showed atypical development sequences in both initials and finals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is a nation with linguistic and ethnic diversity. Putonghua, which translates to "common language" is the common spoken language in mainland China, also known as Standard Chinese historically and Mandarin Chinese in English, has been actively promoted for over half a century aiming at facilitating communication among people with different dialects across China. Under the nationwide promotion of standard Chinese since the State Council issued Instructions Concerning the Promotion of Putonghua in 1956 (Zhou & Sun, 2004), the linguistic ecology represented by the interaction among Putonghua and other dialects in urban contexts has changed dramatically. Based on the three dimensional language policy theory which includes the language ideology, the language practice and the language management (Spolsky, 2004), this study intends to investigate the family language ecology of 30 Chinese parents from 20 urban families with children aged three to seven years. Through analyzing the data collected from survey questionnaires and two interviews, the results indicate that the status of dialect has been marginalized consensually by parents within the family domain. Additionally, parents are shielding their children from dialect both consciously and unconsciously. This study concludes with a discussion of implications for future Family Language Policy (FLP) research within the distinctive Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In April 2015, a meeting of a Hong Kong Legislative Council Panel discussed the potential for using Putonghua, as opposed to Cantonese, to teach the 'Chinese Language Subject' within the Hong Kong curriculum. Their primary reason for making this suggestion was based on the idea that Putonghua and the Han Chinese ethnicity are somehow inherently linked - if you are Han Chinese, you should be able to speak Putonghua. This paper discusses the validity of this assertion and examines language-in-education policy related to Putonghua in Hong Kong from the late-colonial period and the contemporary period to establish whether Putonghua is used by the Hong Kong Legislative Council to encourage Hong Kong pupils to identify with a pan-Chinese ethnicity and by dint, a pan-Chinese language, Putonghua. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As with most fields of life, China can trace its history of word standardization back to ancient times, when the first dictionaries (such as Erya, ca. 3rd century B.C.) appeared. Modern Standard Chinese used in Mainland China – Putonghua – has been subject to standardization since its proclamation as the official national language of China in 1956. The definition states quite clearly that its base is formed by the Northern dialects. This statement concerns also vocabulary. However, it is not a simple matter to make a choice of words which are to be used throughout the country. On the one hand, the so-called "Northern dialects" are spoken by almost 70% of the Han Chinese population, i.e. by about 800 million people. Although the Northern dialects are said to be quite uniform, the vast area that they cover must bring diversity in vocabulary. On the other hand, the remaining 30% of the Han Chinese speak a range of mutually unintelligible tongues, which are bound to penetrate the Northern dialects. The aim of this paper is to show how the lexicon of Putonghua is being codified. An attempt will be made to reveal how the basic vocabulary was selected during the forming of Putonghua in the 1950s. Some of the tools used by the State Language Commission in order to control the process of vocabulary standardization will be described. Moreover, the paper intends to describe the ongoing changes in the Chinese lexicon. It will show the sources of new words that are gradually accepted into the authoritative dictionaries of modern Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study attempts to observe how natives of different age groups in a city of south-east China switch between Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese), the H language variety, and the local dialect, the L variety, the linguistic features of different CS patterns, and the function of the H variety in conversation. Topics of the participants’ conversations ranged from family to friends, neighbourhood, games, movies, computers and business. Data analysis shows that the participants mainly use the local dialect and Putonghua in their daily conversation, while English and other dialects in China like Cantonese and Dongbeihua(Dialect in north-east China) are also used.

Strategy use is a critical competence for academic achievement and problem solving in globalised and information-based knowledge economies. It involves skills such as synthesising information from task source materials and elaborating on interlocutors' viewpoints during integrated group discussions. However, evidence from empirical studies on this topic is scarce. We recruited 171 local Hong Kong undergraduate students to participate in an integrated group discussion task in Putonghua as an L2 (i.e., second language) and to complete a strategy use inventory of the task. The students' performances and responses were analysed with multiple statistical methods. The strategy use inventory of the integrated group discussion was validated. Five categories of strategy were identified: active engagement, non-verbal, synthesis, clarification and affective strategies. These strategies significantly predicted task performance (with 19.9% variation), leading to significant improvement in oral production quality. Both the synthesis (the integrative use of information) and active engagement (including elaborating viewpoints) strategies were significantly associated with task performance, which are rarely found in existing oral communication strategy inventories. The participants with high levels of task performance demonstrated significantly more use of the active engagement, clarification and synthesis strategies (with the first two merged in the complex interaction strategy) than those with medium or low task performance levels. The implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hong Kong's language policy is codified in Article 9 of its Basic Law, which declares English and a non-specific 'Chinese' as the region's official languages. The definition of English is not particularly troublesome in Article 9; however, formulating a sound definition for the word 'Chinese' is problematic in the Hong Kong context. What does Chinese mean in Hong Kong? Does it refer to Cantonese, Putonghua, written Chinese, all of these or some of these? Hong Kong is a region wherein several languages are used with certain languages generally being used in specific domains and not in others. This situation is complex, far more so than Article 9 in its simplicity would lead us to believe. Using critical discursive methods, this article explores how Hong Kong's Basic Law is inadequate in properly dealing with Hong Kong's complex sociolinguistic situation and offers some suggestion as to how this might be remedied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined language anxiety (LA) in Chinese dialects and Putonghua among college students in mainland China and explored the links between their LA in the first language and a range of sociobiographical variables (i.e. gender and geographical background) as well as linguistic variables (i.e. mother tongue, age of onset of acquisition, context of learning, self-perceived oral proficiency, and frequency of use). Participants were 778 Beijing university students who speak Chinese dialects and Putonghua. Statistical analyses revealed that participants reported significantly higher levels of LA in dialects than in Putonghua across a variety of situations. Geographical background and gender had scattered effects on LA in Putonghua and in dialects. Early bilinguals whose mother tongue were both a dialect and Putonghua reported the least LA in both. Later age of onset and acquisition of Putonghua in an instructed context were linked to increased LA in Putonghua. The negative relationships between self-perceived oral proficiency, frequency of use and LA were stronger in Putonghua than in dialects. The higher levels of LA in dialects combined with their language practices suggest a relatively lower confidence in the use of dialects among this group of highly educated young Chinese adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asia-Pacific Language Variation (APLV) is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With increasing global demand for English and Chinese language education, the existence of linguistic variation in (and varieties of) both languages has focused scholarly attention on the choice of language standards, norms and models. Using in-depth focus group interviews, this study compared bilingual learners’ choice of English and Putonghua learning targets and examined their language attitudes and identities in relation to these two ‘big’ languages, both of which have played important roles in colonial and post-colonial Hong Kong. The findings revealed that the participants held a hierarchical attitude (i.e. native speaker ideology) towards English but not Putonghua, and identified four key factors affecting their choice of language learning targets, namely (1) the language’s status and instrumental value, (2) the perceived attainability of the target, (3) practical communication needs and (4) the learner’s cultural identity. These results shed light on the local and global status of the two languages and subsequently on the identity construction of Hong Kong people. By comparing the attitudinal patterns of learners towards the world’s two ‘big’ languages, this paper argues for the possibility of applying a World Englishes-oriented framework to the study of Chinese, given its increasing global visibility, linguistic variation and extensive use around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a linguistically heterogeneous nation, China has 290 languages and nearly 2000 distinct fangyans (dialects or subdialects) with Putonghua as the national language. These languages and language varieties are hierarchically ranked, based on their wider communicative and socioeconomic values. This paper reports on how Putonghua, fangyans, and English are perceived by a group of Chinese middle-class parents and how parents as agents of language policy provide affordances and constraints in facilitating or limiting their children’s language development in English, Putonghua and fangyans. The study involves eight Chinese city-dwelling families with children aged 5-11 years. By examining the children’s family language audits, observing their language/literacy practices, and engaging in conversation about parental language ideologies, the study aims to understand how public discourse about different languages or fangyans and their perceived values shape parental involvement in their children’s language development. The results of the study suggest that parents as agents of decision making have a strong influence on the changes of linguistic ecology in China in urban contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the identity construction process of China’s rural-urban migrant children through analyses of their discourses and of their use of language. Rural children have relocated to the urban centers with their parents on a massive scale over the past decades as China has undergone rapid economic changes. Many migrant children are able to attend urban public schools, and their identity construction emerges as an important issue that attracts increasing public and scholarly attention. This study draws on ethnographic data and presents four examples to illustrate the complex process of migrant identity construction. The results show that the migrant children deploy a range of linguistic features and claim multiple identities; in order for their identities to be established in social reality, they have to go through negotiation processes in which their identities are evaluated, ratified, challenged, or denied. Language is at the center of such processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to shed light on the attitudes of Chinese Singaporeans and Chinese nationals residing in Singapore to varieties of Mandarin Chinese. 64 Singaporean Chinese and Chinese national participants took matched and verbal-guise tests, evaluating recorded speakers of two varieties of Singapore Mandarin (standard and colloquial) and the variety spoken in the PRC on status and solidarity traits. These evaluations were followed by optional questionnaire items intended to probe for additional more insights into the participants’ attitudes and perceptions of one another. Both Singaporean Chinese and Chinese national participants assigned higher status to the PRC’s variety of Mandarin. Attitudes toward the two varieties of Singapore Mandarin, however, varied, with Singaporeans rating the standard variety higher than the colloquial variety on all traits and Chinese nationals favouring the colloquial variety. Interestingly, for all three varieties of Mandarin, solidarity traits were rated higher than status traits by all participants, suggesting that, in Singapore, Mandarin Chinese is now viewed more as a language of solidarity than status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asia-Pacific Language Variation (APLV) is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates the interrelationship between the implementation of language policies and the development of cultural soft power in contemporary China by examining the Party-State's utterances concerning these two policy areas. China's official discourse on soft power enhancement shows that the Chinese leadership is targeting the domestic audience with the promotion of a higher level of faith in Chinese culture. In recent years, China's language policy has featured among cultural policies promoted by the government with the aim of enhancing the role of culture as part of the country's soft power. Ties between language planning and the concept of cultural soft power in this discourse are drawn out by sketching the regulatory framework of the former, the characteristics of the latter, and their relationships with China's language practices. Aiming to contribute to the discussion regarding China's language policy from the perspective of cultural soft power, this paper reflects on the Party-State's vision of the dissemination of Putonghua and the harmonisation of China's language life as cultural capital resources and explores the motives for the adoption of this dominant narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigated how Putonghua-Cantonese bilingual children differ from monolinguals in their acquisition of speech sound and phonological patterns. Fifty-four typically developing Putonghua-Cantonese bilingual children aged 3;6–6;0 were recruited from nurseries in the North District of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Cantonese Articulation Test (Cheung et al., 2006) and a Putonghua picture-naming task (Zhu & Dodd, 2000) were used to elicit single-word samples of both languages. Acquisition of speech sound and phonological patterns exhibited by ≥20% of the children in an age group were compared to the normative data on children who were Cantonese native or Putonghua monolingual speakers. The bilingual children demonstrated smaller sound inventory in both languages and more delayed and atypical phonological processes. The atypical patterns could be explained by phonological interference between Putonghua and Cantonese. The findings serve as a preliminary reference for clinicians in differentiating language difference from true speech sound disorders in Putonghua-Cantonese bilingual children in Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysian Mandarin is a unique variation of Mandarin that exhibits certain degrees of variation as opposed to Putonghua, the standardized Mandarin spoken in Mainland China. Following the spread of Putonghua under the Mandarin globalization trend, the issue of language standardization has become a central concern among the Chinese Malaysian community. This article examines the central principles of language standardization and thus gives suggestions to the proper and workable strategies needed for managing the Malaysian Mandarin variations. By these principles, in addition to an analysis of issues within Malaysian Mandarin standardization, this article proposes, through illustration of lexical standardization, a flexible and dynamic approach to setting strategies for standardization of Malaysian Mandarin with regard to the Mandarin globalization trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines 138 news articles published in Hong Kong print media on Putonghua as a medium of instruction (PMI) for teaching Chinese during a one-year period. Informed by theories of framing and the multiple streams approach (MSA), the study investigated the local Chinese print media's participation in the PMI policy process. Detailed content analysis revealed how the press discursively impeded policy outputs with regard to PMI in Hong Kong. The results remind policy entrepreneurs of the importance of framing and counter-framing. More studies from the policy process perspective are needed to explore the ways in which stakeholders, policy entrepreneurs and policy makers engage with the mass media in the educational language policy debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that various changes in the quality of the vocal elements occur in the atonic syllables in the Beijing dialect which represents the phonetic basis of the Chinese national language, so-called putonghua. These changes, which could be termed a reduction of the vowel values, also penetrate to a limited extent into putonghua, where they may be considered optional. Considering the fact that the prosodic quality of emphasis in Chinese is subject to many variations, it is difficult, even in the Beijing dialect, to establish lists of words and other linguistic units where the reductions are indispensable. The appearance is regular, however, in such a way that it allows for a systematic representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]