The Promotion of Putonghua as the National Language of China: A Critical Multimodal Analysis

• In Event: 33.078 - Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 33.078-12 - Standardization Across the World: Discursive Construction of Educational Pathways

Abstract

Putonghua, a variation of Mandarin, has been promoted by the Chinese government as the national language since 1949, although the majority of Han Chinese and 55 ethnic minority groups are non-Putonghua speakers. The promotion of Putonghua has been controversial: while it facilitates communication, it may hinder the development of dialects and ethnic languages. We examine the promotion of Putonghua through a critical multimodal analysis focused on the discursive strategies used in both the text and the image on the posters (1997-2013) collected from the government promotion website. The researchers find that Putonghua is naturalized and legitimized as a national language with symbolic power, which produces inequality between speakers and non-speakers of Putonghua.

Authors

• Jia Lu, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Fei YU, University of Nebraska - Lincoln