ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the construction of social distinction through linguistic styling. As an integral part of the project of distinction making, linguistic styling refers to the construction of a style through bricolage, that is, (re)using and combining linguistic resources. The chapter expresses that the Beijing yuppies combine a clustering of linguistic resources to create their cosmopolitan identity in relation to other groups, particularly state professionals and other wealthy locals. Few local stereotypes are as well known as Jing youzi, the Beijing smooth operator. In addition to the smoothness of the Beijing smooth operator, there is a widely shared belief that Beijing speech is smooth. The most striking difference between the state professionals and the yuppies is found in their use of the "cosmopolitan" full-tone variant, with the female yuppies using it most frequently. The chapter demonstrates that the yuppies are creating a cosmopolitan style of Mandarin by drawing on linguistic features from Standard PTH, non-mainland Mandarin varieties, and English.