[Linganth] ELAN- workshop Invitation, December 02, 2021. Giulia Cabras: Diversity in the linguistic landscapes of Xining (Amdo region, Northwest China)

[Jing]

Dear colleagues,

This coming Thursday (December 02) EASA Linguistic Anthropology Network
(ELAN) will host this month's works-in-progress workshop. It is my great
pleasure to invite you to attend this workshop. We will be discussing a
paper by *Dr. Giulia Cabras* from Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy
of Sciences. *Dr. Laura Siragusa *(University of Oulu) will act as
discussant for the paper.

If you are interested in attending this workshop, please email me through
sunnyleaf1984 at gmail.com for a copy of this paper.

Here is the abstract:

*Diversity in the linguistic landscapes of Xining (Amdo region, Northwest
China): writing systems and practices to be visible* (by Giulia Cabras)

*Abstract: *The Amdo region, that encompasses Qinghai and Gansu provinces
in Northwest China, is well-known for its linguistic diversity. In this
area, Tibetan, Mongolic, Sinitic and Turkic languages have been in contact
since centuries. Concerning written practices, the languages of the area
have experienced unsuccessful attempts to establish orthographic systems
and this lack has intensified diglossic relationships. This paper
investigates written language choices in the linguistic landscapes of
Xining, Qinghai’s provincial capital. The city has experienced economic and
infrastructural development in this last decade and the migration of Han,
Tibetans, Hui (Chinese Muslims), Salar (Turkic), Mongolic-speaking groups
from rural areas and small urban centers in Qinghai and Gansu. The change
of the ethnic composition and increase of wealth have led to the opening of
new businesses and the trade of specific products for locals and tourists.
This study is rooted in the field of the linguistic and semiotic landscapes
and considers the linguistic, informative and symbolic features of written
texts in the language ecology of the city (Landry and Bourhis, 1997;
Jaworsky and Thurlow, 2010; Gorter, Marten and Mensel, 2012). The data
(such as pictures of shop signs, advertisements, and objects) were gathered
in the last three years in different areas of Xining. The qualitative
analysis looks specifically at the use of languages, scripts, fonts, the
emplacement and content of signs. The study will shed light on different
ways in which linguistic and cultural diversity is represented in a
multilingual urban environment: diglossic relatioships in written
practices, the symbolic role of established written standards, strategies
used by ethnolinguistic communities whose heritage language lacks an
orthography, the social and cultural motivations. Moreover, it provides
evidence of the impact of consumption trends, local cultures and
globalization in the development of linguistic diversity in Amdo.

Date: Thursday, *02 December *2021
Time: 12.15-13.45 *Dublin time (GMT)*

Link to Zoom Meeting:
https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/64808619250?pwd=MkNZY0Z5cFg3TnJiL2dHZExrL2dBZz09

Meeting ID: 648 0861 9250
Passcode: 715185

All welcome! In the meantime, you are also most welcome to follow ELAN's
workshop serials (please refer to the link at the end of the email)

Best wishes,
Lijing

P.S. ELAN workshop document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t-UeFI6bFoGbdVPuvze92KIWafwT-02aBdyD-zH-RvU/edit


-- 
Dr. phil. Lijing Peng

Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation
Dublin 2, Ireland
+353 877963633
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