Tibetan in the linguistic landscape of Xining (Qinghai Province, Amdo Tibet, Northwest China): a minority language in the context of a monolingual language policy and in a non-autonomous area

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the presence of the Tibetan language in the linguistic landscape of Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province in Northwest China. Qinghai constitutes the main part of Amdo, one of the historical and cultural regions of greater Tibet. The majority of the inhabitants of Xining are Han Chinese (the major ethnic group in China), and a small percentage are from minorities, mainly Tibetans and Hui (Chinese-speaking Muslims). This city is characterised by intense economic and infrastructural development and attracts people from different areas of the province. The research is based on photographs of public signs that display the Tibetan language gathered between 2017 and 2022. The paper analyses the language choices, content, and visual elements of the signs and discusses the different uses of Tibetan signs in Xining. Moreover, it explores the use of the Tibetan language in public space in light of the current language policies and language ideologies in China, particularly in the Amdo region.

KEYWORDS:

• Linguistic landscapes
• minorities in China
• Amdo Tibet
• Qinghai Province
• language policies
• Tibetan language

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers, Keith Dede, Marián Sloboda, Zixi Wang, and Shannon Ward, for their insightful comments on previous drafts. I am also grateful to Lhamo, Agnes Conrad, Mgon po rgyal and an anonymous research assistant for their help in collecting and commenting on the data. I am, of course, responsible for any shortcomings that remain. This research was funded by the Lumina Quaeruntur Fellowship for Prospective Researchers of the Czech Academy of Sciences (no. LQ300211901).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This percentage is calculated according to data from the 2020 census (Xining Statistics Office, 2021; I thank Wang Zixi for sharing the information with me). The percentage of minorities is likely higher because many Tibetans do not reside officially in Xining but spend in the city some years of their life for professional or educational reasons.

2 With the term Amdo Tibetan, I refer to a group of dialects with variations in pronunciation and vocabulary according to the nomadic or agricultural sub-dialects and to the area (Tournadre, 2005).

3 See, for example, Caprioni (2011, p. 277) about Uyghur language in public signs. I also noticed that the Tibetan is often smaller than Chinese in Rebgong (Chinese: Tongren) County in Qinghai.

4 The city of Xining includes the counties of Datong and Huangyuan and five ‘urban’ districts: west, central, north, east, and the district of Huangzhong.

5 Personal name. Tshong dpon means ‘merchant’; nor bzang means ‘prosperous wealth’ and refers also to the Buddhist demi-god Manibhadra.

6 Tibetan religious paintings of cotton or silk, depicting Buddhist deities.

7 In Tibetan, the same letter can represent different sounds according to the sound environment. In order to master the reading of Tibetan syllables, Tibetan students spell them out orally letter by letter.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Lumina Quaeruntur Fellowship for Prospective Researchers of the Czech Academy of Science [grant number LQ300211901].