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2022 Vol. 7, No. 2
Published: 2022-03-10

 
1 Constructing a Barrier-free Information Society
Li Yuming
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 1-1 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
5 Interdisciplinary Talk: Expert Views on Metaverse
Shen Yang, Pan Zhigeng, Zhang Hongzhong and Wu Jiang
Language Shift in the Metaverse Era ... Shen Yang
Virtual Reality Is Indispensable for Metaverse ... Pan Zhigeng
Will Metaverse Replace WeChat and Subvert Current Games? ... Zhang Hongzhong
User’s Information in Metaverse: Today and Tomorrow ... Wu Jiang
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 5-9 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
10 Introduction: Study of Language Use in International Organizations and Theoretical Innovation of Language Planning
Fang Xiaobing
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 10-11 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
12 The Formation, Evolution and Influence of Language Policies of International Organizations: A Case Study of UNESCO
Fang Xiaobing
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220201
The language planning process of international organizations involves three aspects: policy formation, policy evolution, and policy impact. By investigating the formation mechanism of UNESCO conventions, recommendations, and declarations, it can be found that expert contributions and government promotion play a key role in transforming proposals into international normative instruments. From the language ideology evolution of UNESCO over the past 70 years, it can be seen that language policies of international organizations always actively adapt to the political and economic environment of the world and evolve with the development of the era, and  factors such as international political environment and popular thought trends play an important role in language policy shift in international organizations; UNESCO enhances its international authority by formulating conventions, funding projects, providing technical support, establishing evaluation indicators and publishing international rankings, so as to exert influence on member states. Member states also influence UNESCO’s language policies by refusing to pay dues, expert lobbying, and using institutional processes for specific proposals. At present, research on language policies of international organizations mostly focuses on language choice and text analysis. In the future, we should make a panoramic study of all links of the policy process in combination with the institutional frameworks and procedural norms of international organizations.
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 12-21 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
22 A Study of Language Policy in ICAO: Interplay of Multilingualism and Monolingualism
Zhang Zhiguo
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220202
The language policy (LP) of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is composed of multilingual administrative LP and monolingual aviation LP. The former is subdivided into official language policy and working language policy, and the latter is aviation English policy. Such ICAO LPs can, to some extent, tackle the paradox of linguistic justice and linguistic reality, but there are still many challenges about the priority and balance of multilingualism and monolingualism to be handled during the processes of policy-making, policy implementation and representation of three LP components in ICAO. Finally, the author argues that, the study and implementation of ICAO LPs will be beneficial to the advancement of Chinese civil aviation, China’s participation in global governance in ICAO and better use of the Chinese language in this organization.
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 22-31 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
32 Current Challenges of Language Policy for International Organisations
Lisa J. McEntee-Atalianis
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220203
This article reviews the language policy and planning challenges currently facing international organisations. Using the United Nations as a case study and exemplar, it discusses the specific challenges faced by the organisation when trying to balance the demands of linguistic equity among language users, efficiency in communication and cost associated with the maintenance of multilingual provision. The paper describes the development of the UN’s multilingual language policy and the ongoing difficulties experienced in its implementation, with marked disparity found in the use of the organisation’s six official languages and the ever-increasing hegemony of English. The article contends that the time is ripe for a review of the regulatory principles, provisions and linguistic practices and suggests a way for the organisation to assess and reform its current language regime. This, it is argued, will demand first modelling and then operating different language scenarios, which are able to accommodate and adapt to shifting priorities or (resource) constraints. Models of different configurations (using the current official/working languages) are presented. These simulate changes to the constitution of language provision in different settings. These scenarios can be applied when taking into account a number of variables, e.g. the amount of financial support for any setting; equity of language provision; the linguistic expertise of personnel in any grouping; expediency of communication; access to language interpreters/translators; preference for lingua franca usage etc. It is argued that there is much to learn from the work of language economists who, in their analyses of multilingual contexts, consider allocative and distributive effects, i.e. comparative cost and efficiency of different scenarios and the relative impact of changing language scenarios on individuals and groups. It is also argued that in addition to economic and operational constraints, user preferences and beliefs should also be analysed to ensure success of take-up. Modelling will support a review of current practices and ideologies (of administrative staff, member state representatives and other stakeholders) and test the feasibility of introducing and operating multiple language scenarios within and across different departments, agencies and bodies of the UN, which has relevance for other inter/supernational organisations too. Modelling can inform planning and go some way to ensuring a balance can be struck between the persistently challenging trilogy of: equity, efficiency and cost.
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 32-43 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
44 Exploring Non-Political and Non-Economic Factors in Influencing the Power Game of Language Policy in International Organizations
Zhang Huiyu and An Yuchen
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220204
Existing literature shows that power plays a critical role in influencing the language policy of international organizations (IOs) and that political-economic prowess of member states is the vital factor that decides power-language games. However, the influence from non-political-economic factors has been underexplored in international literature. In view of this, drawing upon data from 6694 IOs from The 2019 Yearbook of International Organizations and based on the type I classification, the current study attempts to analyze the language choices of the sample organizations, with focus on languages that are not prevailing in the world but relatively frequently used by IOs. The findings show that sphere of influence exerts impacts on the power-language game in two folds: whereas IOs with smaller influence tend to attach more importance to linguistic diversity, those with greater influence give priority to operational and communicative function; On the other hand, countries from different regions exhibit different attitudes towards linguistic diversity, and thus affect the power-language game in relevant IOs. Meanwhile, some other non-political-economic factors also influence such games: in IOs that are associated with particular nation-states, languages in these polities are adopted naturally; when it comes to professional IOs, languages of countries dominant in relevant fields or with active international participation would prevail; and in IOs that aim to help or aid some special groups, the languages in areas relevant to these groups of people would be selected. While such factors influence the power-language game in varying ways, they all contribute to linguistic diversity and integration of the symbolic and pragmatic value of language.
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 44-55 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
56 Diverse Views on Language Policy for International Organizations
Xu Daming, Zhao Shouhui, Zhao Ronghui, Zhang Tianwei, He Yong, Du Yiyang and Wu Meili
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 56-61 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
62 Two Decades of Emergency Language Research in China: Retrospect and Prospect
Xiao Junmin and Zhang Yu
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220205
Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergency language research has attracted considerable scholarly attention worldwide. In China, the development of emergency language research over the past 20 years can be divided into two stages. In the first stage, Chinese scholars gained some experiences in emergency language practices, initiated theoretical explorations, and brought up the relevant issues into the policy-making agenda. However, applied research was scarce, and emergency language studies were yet to emerge as an established research field. The second stage saw a remarkable increase in the number of emergency language studies. The denotation and connotation of the concept emergency language were clearly explained, diverse theoretical perspectives adopted and greater achievements made in applied research. There was an increasing number of studies on the emergency language practices in foreign countries, the clarification of emergency language related terminologies, the creation of emergency language products, the emergency language technological innovations, the establishment of emergency language service teams, the training of emergency language talents and the analysis of emergency discourses. In these studies, macro-level speculations and more specific case study were common research approaches. However, there were also some limitations in the theoretical perspectives, research methods and research scope. Therefore, it is proposed in the paper that efforts should be made to broaden the theoretical perspectives, inquire into the sub-areas of emergency language, and reinforce both macro-speculation and micro-empirical research.
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 62-73 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
74 A Study of Characteristic Words of Macao Chinese
Wang Shan and Tang Lei
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220206
The study of Chinese varieties around the world, with their vocabulary being the most dynamic part, is the basis for a comprehensive understanding of the Chinese language. As a multilingual society characterized by three scripts and languages, Macao has offered an ideal site for language contact in the past several centuries. The Chinese Mandarin language in Macao has numerous words with local characteristics through constant contact with Cantonese, Portuguese, and English. However, there is a lack of systematic and large-scale corpus-based analysis of these special words. With A Comprehensive Dictionary of Global Huayu as the source of data, this study investigates 45 Macao Chinese words and describes their basic features in terms of vocabulary sources, phonetic features, word formation, and semantic features. In addition, an analysis of their regional distribution and word sense distribution in LIVAC shows that most words are used in other Sinophone regions, indicating a trend of gradual integration of Chinese. Furthermore, most of these words are in stable use, whereas a few of them are disappearing from the language life of Macao.
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 74-85 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
86 Investigation on the Distribution of Mandarin with Cantonese Accent in the Pearl River Delta
Li Jinfeng, Zhou Yuliang and He Tianqi
DOI: 10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20220207
The phenomenon of Mandarin with Cantonese accent is widespread in Cantonese area. It is mainly manifested in the skewed pronunciation and local vocabulary in comparison with Putonghua, or Mandarin, and to what extent the speech has the above features reflects speakers’ Mandarin level. To find out the distribution patterns of this kind compromised Mandarin across the region, we conducted a survey in nine cities in the Pearl River Delta in the summer of 2019. The evaluation criteria adopted in the survey is ratio of Mandarin and local vocabularies. The main findings are as followings: (1) The overall Mandarin level of Pearl River Delta is good, and the ratio index between Mandarin and Cantonese vocabularies is 0.0737. (2) The proficiency level of Mandarin in each city is unevenly distributed throughout the sampled region, ranking from high to low, they are: Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing. (3) According to variance analysis and expert scoring, the imbalanced degree of Mandarin proficiency can be divided into four categories from strong to weak. Under the first category is Shenzhen; the second category includes Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Dongguan; the third category has two cities Foshan and Huizhou and there are three cities falling into the fourth category: Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing. (4) The correlation analysis between the economic development (in GDP) and the Mandarin proficiency level appears to demonstrate that the higher the level of regional economic development is, the better Mandarin level is. Based on this, this study suggests that the local authorities should endeavour to strengthen the promotion of Mandarin in cities that are characterized by Mandarin with higher level of local accent and thus to obtain the balanced development of regional economic integration.
2022 Vol. 7 (2): 86-96 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
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