33.1131, Review: Applied Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Grey (2021)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-1131. Tue Mar 29 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.1131, Review: Applied Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Grey (2021)

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Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2022 08:46:26
From: Teresa Ong [ongtesa at gmail.com]
Subject: Language Rights in a Changing China

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36767717


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/32/32-2565.html

AUTHOR: Alexandra  Grey
TITLE: Language Rights in a Changing China
SUBTITLE: A National Overview and Zhuang Case Study
SERIES TITLE: Contributions to the Sociology of Language
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2021

REVIEWER: Teresa Wai See Ong, Griffith University

SUMMARY

Since the middle of the 20th century, China has undergone enormous
transformations. Consequently, minority ethnic communities living there
encounter challenges in retaining the use of their heritage/minority
languages. This is largely due to the enforcement of policy and promotion of
“Putonghua” (Standard Mandarin), despite the fact that the Constitution
recognises minority languages. This book, “Language Rights in a Changing
China: A National Overview and Zhuang Case Study”, written by Alexandra Grey,
presents an in-depth legal and critical sociolinguistic analysis of how
language rights are affecting Zhuang, the most-spoken minority language in
China. The book, divided into four sections, consists of eleven chapters along
with a preface and an appendix. 

Part 1 sets the scene for Grey’s research context. Following Bourdieu’s
(1977a, 1977b, 1991) concept of symbolic power, Grey includes in her study an
inquiry into the impact of language laws as an “active discourse” (Bourdieu,
1987, p. 839). Bourdieu states that a society is ascribed certain language
practices in which the speakers’ habitus (how a person perceives and reacts to
the world) shapes how they evaluate their own language practices while linking
them to social identities. Bourdieu (1987) adds that speakers need to have a
habitus which represents themselves in relation to justice. However, Wee
(2011) criticises Bourdieu’s theory as too “one-dimensional” in that it makes
no space for deliberate processes and practices. Thus, Grey adopts the
critical sociolinguistic theoretical orientation, which points to language as
a resource (Heller, 2010). She defines language rights to be the authorised
distribution of power and, via the linguistic landscape approach, investigates
minority language governance in public spaces, with a focus on the Zhuang
minzu or Zhuangzu. Data were collected between 2013 and 2020 through
interviews (with 43 university students and 20 Zhuang language leaders),
activities, and participant observations in and between Guangxi Zhuangzu
Autonomous Region (GZAR), Yunnan Province, Beijing, and Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region. Law and policy texts in hard copy and from online
repositories were also used. 

The Zhuang language is an umbrella term that covers Tai languages
(Sino/Chinese-Tibetan) spoken in Guangxi and adjacent areas in Yunnan and
Guangdong. It consists of several dialects (Luo, 2015), which are further
categorised into the Northern and Southern dialectal groups. Its writing
system, Zhuangwen or Romanised Standard Zhuang, was developed in the 1950s and
later reformed in the 1980s. Zhuang is spoken by Zhuangzu, the most populous
minority minzu in China, comprising 1% of the total population. The Zhuangzu
have their own government in a large provincial-level region, known as GZAR,
which is located on the southern border beside Vietnam. Despite the Zhuangzu
being the largest minority minzu in GZAR, there are other minority minzu
living in GZAR but the majority minzu remains the Hanzu, which is also the
national majority minzu. Grey reports that Zhuangzu Zhuang speakers are now
often bilingual and speak varieties of Putonghua alongside Zhuang. She also
emphasises that the shift among Zhuang speakers towards bilingualism has
increased since the early 2000s. Despite being bilingual, the Zhuangzu poverty
rate remains rather high as compared to the Hanzu majority, with rural poverty
higher than urban poverty. Many Zhuangzu households therefore struggle with
everyday food costs. 

Part 2 reports Grey’s analysis of China’s language legislation. According to
China’s Constitution, the national, standard Putonghua and minority languages
form the constitutive elements of present-day China. Enshrined in Article 4 of
the Constitution, the people of all nationalities in China have the freedom to
use and develop their heritage languages, which ensures the “right” entitled
for minority protection. Nevertheless, the Putonghua law is extended to
promote the use of Standard Mandarin across the nation. This suggests that the
Zhuangzu and other minority languages have weaker legal protection than
Standard Mandarin. A similar status applies in the domain of education and in
courts of law, where Standard Mandarin is popularised over minority languages.
This leads to Grey’s conclusion that there are limitations of the legislation
in relation not only to Zhuang but also to other minority languages.

Moving on to language ideologies, Grey investigates participants’ experiences
of the legal system and language law. Overall, the participants did not
provide many comments about their understanding of China’s language law.
Language leaders showed a greater understanding of the law concerning Zhuang
and other minority languages than did student participants. These findings
therefore highlight the little protection that minority languages (including
Zhuang) receive and that it is impacting minority language rights and freedom.
Building on this in the following chapter, Grey brings in a spatial analysis
of the structural distribution and implementation of the laws in relation to
Zhuang. Specifically, she examines how the Zhuangzu is constructed by law and
the state administration system, and maps out the various legislative and
administrative organs of the state and the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Since Zhuang speakers and official Zhuangzu representatives are not
proportionately represented in the language governance framework, Grey
concludes in Part 2 that overt language policy is not homogenous. 

Part 3 offers a detailed examination of the linguistic landscape and other
multimodal semiotic resources that are related to Zhuang. Focusing on Nanning
City, Guilin City, Wuming, and Ping’An Zhuang Village in GZAR, Yunnan, and
Beijing, Grey presents her findings about monolingual, bilingual, and
multilingual signs. The overall pattern shows that the majority of the signs
are written in Standard Mandarin, while written Zhuang is Romanised rather
than using the logographic Sawndip script. Written Mandarin is also emphasised
in terms of size/position/colour when compared to written Zhuang. Written
Zhuang is rarely used except on China’s banknotes. In the following chapter,
Grey widens her linguistic lens to include non-linguistic Zhuang emblems in
the same landscapes. Her findings demonstrate that museum graphics and texts,
souvenirs such as “love balls” (small, silk balls that are decorated with
embroidery), tropes of drums, and costumes (especially costumed women in
hats), and the “Third of the Third” magazine are non-linguistic
representations of Zhuang identity. However, these representations do not show
the ideology of Zhuangzu people interacting in the Zhuang language or speaking
Zhuang varieties, which indicates that the absence of the Zhuang language is
not regarded as important in the Zhuang culture and personal identity. 

Following Jaworski’s (2014) claim of rare inclusion of the role of social
actors in interacting with the landscape, Grey elicits the different layers of
meanings presented by public texts in Zhuang via her commented walks with
university students and language leaders. Note that most of the participants
were Zhuang speakers. In general, the participants stated that written Zhuang
was often misrecognised, not read even when it was recognised, or treated as
contributions to heritage language maintenance. The participants also believed
that Zhuang literacy is accomplished only through specialised language
training. In the final chapter of Part 3, Grey turns her attention to the role
of de jure language policy through “linguascaping” the public landscapes. Her
findings reveal that the investigated linguistic landscapes, such as the
common monolingual Standard Mandarin signage, are shaped and influenced by the
law. The government, consisting of various law-making bodies, holds the
responsibility for prioritising how the landscape should look and read, which
indicates that Zhuang is under pressure of being marginalised. 

Part 4 closes the book. Grey begins by recapitulating her overall findings,
which show that Zhuang language policy uses Zhuangwen, the official written
form of Standard Zhuang, and therefore it does not create more instrumental
values, prompt wider usage of the language, or fix the challenges faced by
Zhuang and its speakers. Grey concludes her study by stating that the present
language governance framework is insufficient to promote the implementation of
Zhuang in various domains and mediums but hopes to see changes soon. Grey ends
the book with a reflection that goes beyond the Zhuang case study in relation
to global minority language policy.  

EVALUATION

As economic globalisation permeates today’s world, minority/heritage languages
stand at the edge of the precipice for survival because of huge competition
from majority/dominant languages. These languages are always being fostered
and “enforced” by authorities at the macro level, such that their use
possesses greater economic value than minority/heritage languages do. Laws are
also implemented with an emphasis on using the majority/dominant languages,
which usually function as a country’s national and official languages. Because
of such enforcement and implementation, ethnic minorities face challenges in
terms of defining their identity and using their heritage languages in
everyday life. 

Such a situation is observed within the Zhuangzu minzu in China, as
exemplified in Grey’s study. Situating her study within Bourdieu’s critical
sociolinguistic theory and extending it to include language rights, Grey
demonstrates that the Zhuangzu minzu and its language are recognised
officially in the Constitution, which offers a clear illustration of how a
nation-state creates linguistic minorities (Freeland and Patrick, 2004).
However, Grey finds that Zhuang speakers are mostly multilingual and not
necessarily located in rural areas, as they have moved to cities. Many also do
not speak or write Standard Zhuang, as specified by the government. In GZAR,
due to its self-governing autonomy, there is an increasing power observed
within Zhuang speakers over Zhuang language policy. Nevertheless, the support
provided for the Zhuang language remains limited. 

Grey cleverly uses the linguistic landscape analysis to demonstrate what is
practised on-the-ground. Overall, she finds that the use of Zhuang on signage
is not consistent in Zhuangzu autonomous areas and is usually seen along with
Standard Mandarin. It is also not a legal obligation to include Zhuang in
public spaces. Participants mentioned that when written Zhuang is seen, it is
often misread as Standard Mandarin due to its smaller type font; also, reading
Zhuangwen needs specialised training. Grey also found that non-linguistic
Zhuang symbols in public spaces are not necessarily related to the Zhuang
language, culture, or people. In short, the Zhuang language is devalued and
its use continues to be diminished under the pressure of Standard Mandarin. 

Grey’s study demonstrates that minority languages such as Zhuang are usually
marginalised due to inequality and unfair treatment. Although policies have
been constructed, this does not mean that the policies are fully implemented,
due to power and the lack of representation and coordination in the language
governance structure. Language hierarchy also plays a role in disrupting
equality in multilingual policies, which is reflected in the Zhuang case
study. Summing up Grey’s contribution, it points out how ideas of linguistic
justice in China are shaped, influenced, and often misrepresented by the law
of the state, by public landscapes, and by the voices of its people. In
relation to heritage language maintenance, the Zhuang language displayed in
the landscape continues to be absent or minimally seen, which indicates that
the efforts to maintain Zhuang and its culture should come from the Zhuangzu
minzu community.

An aspect that might interest readers is how these Zhuang speakers
implement/practise Zhuang language policy within their families, although this
is of course beyond the scope of Grey’s study. Hence, a further suggestion
would be to investigate the family and social domains in order to view the
complexity of language ideologies and language practice of Zhuang language
law. This would then provide a more comprehensive story of the Zhuang minzu
and its language. Nevertheless, Grey’s study provides an insightful view that
goes beyond an analysis of the legal documents in China. It shows readers what
was written in the laws in relation to minority languages and how these laws
were implemented in the physical landscape. 

REFERENCES

Bourdieu, P. (1977a). The economics of linguistic exchanges. Social Science
Information, 16(1), 645-688.

Bourdieu, P. (1977b). Sur le pouvoir symbolique. Annales, Histoire, Sciences
Sociales, 32(3), 405-441. 

Bourdieu, P. (1987). The force of law: Toward a sociology of the juridical
field. The Hastings Law Journal, 38(July), 814-853.

Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Polity Press. 

Freeland, J., & Patrick, D. (2004). Language rights and language survival:
Sociolinguistic and sociocultural perspectives. In J. Freeland & D. Patrick
(Eds.), Language rights and language survival (pp. 1-33). St Jerome
Publishing. 

Heller, M. (2010). Language as a resource in the globalised new economy. In N.
Coupland (Ed.), Handbook of language and globalisation (pp. 349-368).
Wiley-Blackwell. 

Jaworski, A. (2014). Mobile language in mobile places. International Journal
of Bilingualism, 18(5), 524-533.

Luo, Y. X. (2015). Evidentiality and epistemic modality in Zhuang. Linguistics
of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 38(1), 3-25. 

Wee, L. (2011). Language without rights. Oxford University Press.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Teresa Wai See Ong received her PhD in sociolinguistics from Griffith
University in Australia. Since graduation, she has published an array of work
related to heritage language maintenance, language planning and policy,
linguistic landscape, and family language policy. She is currently involved in
studies related to Bidayuh language revitalisation and LGBT issues.





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