A study of Pinyin as social practice in China’s commercial linguistic landscape

Abstract

Despite its status as an auxiliary notational system and a pedagogical aid for Chinese learning in China’s language policy and planning, the use and classification of Pinyin in China’s linguistic landscape has caused much confusion for researchers. Through an investigation of the use of Pinyin in the commercial linguistic landscape of Quanzhou, a second-tier coastal city of China, this study finds that Pinyin is used in various ways and associated with different brand positionings. Despite various ways of using Pinyin and different brand positionings, the appropriation of Pinyin points to the commodification of languages and scripts in modern societies. The use of Pinyin contributes to distinctive cosmopolitanism which values the visual salience rather than the referential function of languages and scripts.

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