ABSTRACT

After a brief historical account of the contact of Chinese with other languages, we focus on the ongoing impact of English as a global language on Chinese and the perceived crisis involving Chinese. We then summarize a paradoxical phenomenon, namely the rapidly ascending status of the Chinese language worldwide. In the context of globalization, English is often perceived as the global hegemonic language, suppressing and marginalizing other national languages, including standard Mandarin, as local languages. Yet, we will show that the dynamics between the global and the local are complicated by the tension between the national language and the subnational, local dialects in this multilayered linguistic hierarchy. Next we explore the dominance of standard Mandarin and the impact of nationalization and modernization on the Chinese regional varieties. From this perspective, we show that the function of the nation-state seems more and more aligned with globalization and its concomitant homogenization and centralization. Next we illustrate that a variety of diverse, dynamic forces, including the impact of the English language, the increasing popularity of Internet-mediated communication, and the tremendous economic, social, and cultural changes China experiences in its modernization and integration with the world, all give impetus to a series of radical changes in the Chinese language. Finally, we document the emergence of the new linguistic forms and explore their theoretical implications along the axes of standardization and deviation, stability and mobility, and normativity and creativity.