Approach
Chinglish as border languaging

Qian DuJerry Won Lee
Abstract

In an era where migration across borders is increasingly the norm, how are our understandings of language and the ways we talk about language being reimagined along the way? This article examines this question by attending to the shifting metadiscourses of “Chinglish,” a colloquialism referring to Chinese-English hybridizations. Chinglish, originally used to describe an incompetent interlanguage, has come to be invoked as a means of establishing “China English” as a legitimate world English variety, or more recently even as an innovative form of translingual practice. This article presents Chinglish as a form of “border languaging,” which enables us to take stock of the shifting meanings of Chinglish in relation to the linguistic “border” between English and Chinese upon which such metadiscursive framings hinge, and how the shifting orientations to such linguistic borders invite new ways of conceptualizing Chinglish and historically marginalized language practices more generally.

Keywords:
Publication history
Table of contents

We live in an era where migration across borders is increasingly the norm. Such patterns of migration have become so extensive that scholars have suggested that conventional methods of quantifying diversity have been rendered obsolete (Vertovec, 2007). In an era where migration is the norm, languages are increasingly on the move as well. As Borlongan (2023) notes, language is central to migration and individuals’ usage of language invariably changes as a result of migration. Understanding the complexities of language in relation to migration demands that we conceptualize language not as “languages” per se but instead as “a mobile complex of concrete resources” (Blommaert, 2010, p. 47). After all, linguistic hybridity is increasingly the norm rather than the “exception” (Pennycook, 2012, p. 18). Given these realities, how are our understandings of language and the ways we talk about language being reimagined along the way?

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Agha, A.
(2007) Language and social relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bamgbose, A.
(1998) Torn between the norms: Innovations in world Englishes. World Englishes, 17 (1), 1–14. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bauman, R., & Briggs, C. L.
(2003) Voices of modernity: Language ideologies and the politics of inequality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J.
(2010) The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bolton, K.
(2002) Chinese Englishes: from Canton jargon to global English. World Englishes, 21 (2), 181–199. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Borlongan, A. M.
(2023) Migration linguistics: A synopsis. AILA Review, 36 (1), 38–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Canagarajah, S.
(2013) Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018) Translingual practice as spatial repertoires: Expanding the paradigm beyond structuralist orientations. Applied Linguistics, 39 (1), 31–54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cui, X.
(2006) An understanding of “China English” and the learning and use of the English language in China. English Today, 22 (4), 40–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Deterding, D.
(2006) The pronunciation of English by speakers from China. English World-Wide, 27 (2), 175–198. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Du, Q., Lee, J. W., & Sok, S.
(2020) Using China English, creating translingual space. World Englishes, 39 (2), 275–285. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eaves, M.
(2011) English, Chinglish or China English? Analysing Chinglish, Chinese English and China English. English Today, 27 (4), 64–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fang, F.
(2008) People mountain, people sea: A study of four Chinese English idioms on the web. English Today, 24 (4), 46–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Flores, N., & Rosa, J.
(2015) Undoing appropriateness: Raciolinguistic ideologies and language diversity in education. Harvard Educational Review, 85 (2), 149–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
He, D., & Li, D. C.
(2009) Language attitudes and linguistic features in the “China English” debate. World Englishes, 28 (1), 70–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
He, D., & Zhang, Q.
(2010) Native speaker norms and China English: From the perspective of learners and teachers in China. TESOL Quarterly, 44 (4), 769–789. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heng Hartse, J.
(2014) Chinglish triumphant? The unusual case of “long time no see”. Asian Englishes, 16 (1), 62–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Henry, E. S.
(2010) Interpretations of “Chinglish”: Native speakers, language learners and the enregisterment of a stigmatized code. Language in Society, 39 (5), 669–688. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holliday, A.
(2005) The struggle to teach English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hu, Xiaoqiong
(2005) China English, at home and in the world. English Today, 21 (3), 27–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, Y.
(1995) Chinglish and China English. English Today, 11 (1), 51–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2002) China English: Issues, studies and features. Asian Englishes, 5 (2), 4–23. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jørgensen, J. N.
(2008) Polylingual languaging around and among children and adolescents. International Journal of Multilingualism, 5 (3), 161–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kachru, B. B.
(1976) Models of English for the third world: White man’s linguistic burden or language pragmatics? TESOL Quarterly, 10 (2), 221–239. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1985) Standards, codification, and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk and H. G. Widdowson (Eds.), English in the world: Teaching and learning the language and literatures (pp. 11–30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(2005) Asian Englishes: Beyond the canon. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Khubchandani, L.
(1997) Revisualizing boundaries: A plurilingual ethos. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, A., & Xu, Z.
(2002) Chinese pragmatic norms and “China English”. World Englishes, 21 (2), 269–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, J. W., & Canagarajah, S.
(2021) Translingualism and World Englishes. In B. Schneider & T. Heyd (Eds.), Bloomsbury World Englishes volume 1: Paradigms (pp. 99–112). London: Bloomsbury. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, S., & Sewell, A.
(2012) Phonological features of China English. Asian Englishes, 15 (2), 80–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, W.
(2016) New Chinglish and the post-multilingualism challenge: Translanguaging ELF in China. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca, 5 (1), 1–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018) Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied linguistics, 39 (1), 9–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Makoni, S., & Pennycook, A.
(2005) Disinventing and (re) constituting languages. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies: An International Journal, 2 (3), 137–156. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mezzadra, S., & Neilson, B.
(2013) Border as method, or, the multiplication of labor. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Pennycook, A.
(2012) Language and mobility: Unexpected places. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A., & Otsuji, E.
(2015) Metrolingualism: Language in the city. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pinkham, J.
(2000) The translator’s guide to Chinglish. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Google Scholar
Poshina, Z.
(2023) China’s English: What’s in the Name? English Today, 154 (39), 178–181. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qiong, H. X.
(2004) Why China English should stand alongside British, American, and the other “World Englishes”. English Today, 20 (2), 26–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Radtke, O.
(2012) More than errors and embarrassment: New approaches to Chinglish. In J. Liu & H. Tao (Eds.), Chinese under globalization: Emerging trends in language use in China (pp. 145–170). Singapore: World Scientific. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schneider, E. W.
(2007) Postcolonial English: Varieties around the world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seargeant, P.
(2010) Naming and defining in world Englishes. World Englishes, 29 (1), 97–113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Selinker, L.
(1972) Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10 (1), 209–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sugiharto, S.
(2015) The multilingual turn in Applied Linguistics? A perspective from the periphery. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 25 (3), 414–421. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vertovec, S.
(2007) Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and racial studies, 30 (6), 1024–1054. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, W.
(2015) Teaching English as an international language in China: Investigating university teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards China English. System, 53 , 60–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, Z.
(2017) Researching Chinese English: A meta-analysis of Chinese scholarship on Chinese English research. In Z. Xu, D. He, & D. Deterding (Eds.), Researching Chinese English: The state of the art (pp. 235–266). Cham: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2023) Chinese English: Names, norms and narratives. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Xu, Z., & Deterding, D.
(2017) The playfulness of “new” Chinglish. Asian Englishes, 19 (2), 116–127. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yang, C., & Zhang, L. J.
(2015) China English in trouble: Evidence from dyadic teacher talk. System, 51 , 39–50. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yang, J.
(2005) Lexical innovations in China English. World Englishes, 24 (4), 425–436. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006) Learners and users of English in China. English today, 22 (2), 3–10. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
You, X.
(2016) Cosmopolitan English and transliteracy. Carbondale: SIU Press.Google Scholar
Young, V. A.
(2004) Your average nigga. College Composition and Communication, 55 (4), 693–715. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yun, W., & Jia, F.
(2003) Using English in China. English Today, 19 (4), 42–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, A.
(1997) China English and Chinese English. English Today, 13 (4), 39–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar