‘Little Lhasa’ in the lens of dialogised heteroglossia – centrifugal and centripetal forces shaping its linguistic/semiotic landscape

Abstract

Due to its geographic location and historical development, Chengdu, in Southwest China, has become a centre of Tibetan activity outside of the Tibetan Region. Influenced by globalisation and religious factors, the Tibetan-populated community of Jiangxi Street has attracted Buddhists, traders, and merchants from South Asia and Southeast Asia. Known as ‘Little Lhasa’, this migrant area is a micro-cosmopolitan space and a prime example of ethnic enclaves rarely seen elsewhere in China. Top-down ideological and prescriptive language policies of de-Tibetanisation are in dynamic interaction with the complex language and cultural ecology of the region. This study aims to identify the key features of the linguistic/semiotic landscape in Little Lhasa and to examine how they have been dynamically (re)shaped by both Sinicisation and Tibetanisation in response to official policy and other socio-political factors. Particular attention is paid to the orchestration of various multimodal and multilingual resources which confers and maintains a distinctive identity of the area. This article explores grassroots’ linguistic creativity under institutional, ideological and discursive constraints, thereby revealing the dynamic equilibrium between policy, cultural identity, and ideology in multilingual practices that are shaped by multiple forces.

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