IMAT · (In)visibility of Multilingualism in Amdo Tibet
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2024-01-01 → 2025-12-31
- EU contribution
- €189,687
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
(In)visibility of Multilingualism in Amdo Tibet
This project investigated how multilingualism and linguistic diversity are materialised in urban space in Amdo Tibet (Qinghai–Gansu area), a culturally diverse region in Northwest China inhabited by Tibetans, Han Chinese, Hui, Salar, and Mongolic-speaking communities. Against the backdrop of language policies, rapid urbanisation, migration, and socio-economic change, the project analyses language use in the linguistic landscape, focusing on the (in)visibility of multilingualism in public signage. The project pursued four objectives: (1) document and database public signs; (2) analyse local language policies and regulations; (3) examine the informative and symbolic functions of multilingual signage; and (4) investigate language norms and contact phenomena as indicators of power relations and social hierarchies. The main research site is Rongwo (Longwu), the county seat of Rebgong (Tongren), where Tibetan and Chinese are co-official languages and where intense infrastructural development is reshaping urban space. In addition to Rongwo, the project has also included Xining, the capital of Qinghai, in order to examine language use in urban space. Particular attention has been paid to the informative and symbolic roles of public signs and to the ways in which visual propaganda is adapted to national and local policies as well as to specific urban characteristics. Situated at the intersection of sociolinguistics, ethnography, linguistics, and urban studies, the project has examined how state policies, sociolinguistic realities, language ideologies, and language contact shape the representation of ethnolinguistic diversity. Its broader aim is to understand language hierarchies, the impact of national and local language policies, and the agency of minority communities in constructing space through language and other semiotic resources.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This project will study how multilingualism and linguistic diversity are materialised in the linguistic landscape of Amdo Tibet. This region is situated in the northeast part of the Tibetan plateau and encompasses the present-day Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Gansu. The area is known for its ethnolinguistic diversity. Amdo Tibet is inhabited by several groups, such as Han Chinese (the major ethnic group in China), Tibetans, Chinese Hui (Chinese-speaking Muslims), the Muslim Turkic-speaking Salar, and Mongolic-speaking Buddhist populations. Language policies, intense urbanisation, migration, and socio-economic opportunities and imperatives have an impact on language practices and language use among ethnic groups. This project looks at these changes from the angle of language use in the linguistic landscape. This research studies ethnolinguistic diversity in space, focusing on public signs.The object of this study is the town of Rongwo, the county seat of the Rebgong (Chinese: Tongren) Tibetan autonomous county in Qinghai province (People's Republic of China), where Tibetan and Chinese are co-official languages. The town constitutes the main administrative and commercial centre of the area and features schools, administrative offices, hospitals, and different kinds of businesses such as restaurants and clothing shops).This project draws on linguistic and visual data available in public signs, ethnographically-informed data, and data on regulations of languages in space. The analysis will be based on a holistic approach that considers the informative and symbolic role of the languages involved, the language policies and ideologies at play, and language norms and language contact.The broader goal of this project is to understand the creation and management of ethnolinguistic diversity and linguistic hierarchies in urban space through languages, scripts, and other visual and semiotic means.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- FREIE UNIVERSITAET BERLIN · BerlinCoordinatorGermany
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101106116
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e50feb9f0a&appId=PPGMS
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e528c659c7&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union