Arienne M. Dwyer

The texture of tongues: Languages and power in China

Mandarin stands at the pinnacle of a metalinguistic hierarchy which mirrors the vertical basis of power in China today. State language policies have established official minority languages and Chinese ‘dialects’ under the arching umbrella of the Chinese state; yet their domain is strictly constrained through prescriptive standardization. The tension between this codifying imperative and the dynamic force of speaker identity is examined through the expressions of power through language use, inviting a re‐examination of assumptions about the static texture of language in a multilingual society.

The Šabdan Baatır Codex: epic and the writing of northern Kyrgyz history

brated policies between China’s centre and periphery, where flexible concessions alternate with hard-line tactics (Chapter 7). One notable omission from Cliff’s account is the launching of the ambitious One Belt, One Road policy in 2013 and its implications for Xinjiang. This latter-day Silk Road, financed by China’s cash reserves and public–private sector agreements, highlights Xinjiang’s position of potentially hosting key connective corridors designed to link Central Asia to the Middle East and Europe. According to one Chinese media source, this new open access to China through Xinjiang may exacerbate ‘Islamic risk’ (Mei 2016), even as it internationalizes opportunity. In either case, posits Cliff, disenfranchised Han – whether the bingtuan underclass or newer Han migrants with little income and less loyalty to the central government – may amplify risks to state stability, compounding putative risks such as Islamic extremism. Uyghur conflict percolating on the frontier becomes the surrogate for more diffuse tensions and social disparities. The frontier becomes the litmus test for the centre. Cliff reaches the counter-intuitive conclusion that it ultimately behoves both centre and periphery to maintain their disparity, despite the goal of integration. The Chinese centre’s paternal status is legitimated by the existence of the periphery. Meanwhile, the frontier validates the centre, while benefitting from development assistance that accrues to its singular position.