Abstract：The new rural sages link tradition and modernity, rural and urban areas, and play a unique role in rural governance. However, the linguistic research on this group still remains blank. Through long-term participant observation and in-depth interviews, this study offers a multi-sited ethnography of JC, a new rural sage in Zhongzha Village, a Tibetan-inhabited village in Sichuan Province. The language life of JC involved in the language worlds inside and outside the village as well as the connection between these two language worlds is presented in a panoramic way with first-hand materials such as observation logs and interview recordings. JC’s language life is divided into four circles: Tibetan inner circle, Tibetan outer circle, Chinese circle, and English circle. In the form of speech acts, he has played an important role in many aspects such as villagers’ unity, external exchanges, language planning, economic development, cultural inheritance, and national unity. According to Wittgenstein’s theory of language games, further analysis shows that JC’s language strategies and skills have effectively solved the dilemma of weak rural governance and improved the ability and effectiveness of vertical governance of rural governments and horizontal autonomy of villagers to a certain extent. It also shows that the combination of language and information networks gives JC more possibilities for organizational coordination and social management and provides him with richer choices and broader prospects for exploring innovative methods of rural governance. The language life of JC-like Tibetan folk elites suggests that the sense of the community of the Chinese nation should be cultivated through the community of the Chinese national language. From the perspective of language planning, two suggestions are put forward. First, great importance should be attached to the modernization of the Tibetan language to make it more adaptable to modern society. Second, we should give full play to the role of new rural sages, explore feasible modes to promote Putonghua among new rural sages and guide them to tell Chinese stories well and make Chinese voices heard.
赵春燕. 新乡贤语言生活与乡村治理：中扎村的个案[J]. 语言战略研究, 2023, 8(5): 45-55.
Zhao Chunyan. Language Use and Rural Governance of New Rural Sages: A Case Study of Zhongzha Village. , 2023, 8(5): 45-55.
