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Emergent China and Chinese: Language Planning Categories

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Abstract

This article extends a taxonomic system initially developed by Kloss to describe constitutional and more broadly legal-political categories for language policy in the United States to the Chinese situation. The article extends the taxonomy of spheres of language planning action from sovereignty and jurisdiction to include influence, acquisition, and retention and recovery. These categories are applied to the wide framework of learning and teaching Chinese that is following in the wake of the vast expansion of the economic and the emergent geo-political presence of China. The taxonomy is used as the basis for discussion of the articles comprised in this special issue of Language Policy whose content and key arguments are incorporated in the present article.

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Abbreviations

LPP:

Language policy and planning

PRC:

People’s Republic of China

HKSAR:

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

HSK:

Chinese Proficiency Test for Foreigners

NOCFL:

National Office of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language

SAR:

Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong or Macau’s post-handover status within China)

UK:

United Kingdom

US:

United States of America

WTO:

World Trade Organization

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  1. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Joseph Lo Bianco

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  1. Joseph Lo Bianco
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Bianco, J.L. Emergent China and Chinese: Language Planning Categories. Lang Policy 6, 3–26 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-006-9042-3

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