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From Utterances to Speech Acts

By Mikhail Kissine

"Kissine offers a new theory of speech acts which is philosophically sophisticated and builds on work in cognitive science, formal semantics, and linguistic typology. This highly readable, brilliant essay is a major contribution to the field."

--François Recanati, Institut Jean-Nicod

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Academic Paper


Title: Cosmopolitan Mandarin: Linguistic practice of Chinese waiqi professionals
Author: Qing Zhang
Email: click here to access email
Institution: University of Arizona
Linguistic Field: Anthropological Linguistics; Sociolinguistics
Subject Language: Chinese, Mandarin
Abstract: China’s participation in the global economy has brought about a new professional group — Chinese professionals working for foreign businesses (waiqi). Focusing on the linguistic practice of a group of waiqi professionals in Beijing, this study compares their speech with that of professionals working for stateowned enterprises. Both groups are natives of Beijing. Based on quantitative analysis of three Beijing Mandarin features and a tone feature revealing an influence from non-Mainland Mandarin varieties, the study shows that the waiqi group overwhelmingly used the non-local features much more frequently than the state professionals. It is argued that the waiqi professionals’ speech cannot be described simply as speaking a more standard variety of Putonghua. They are constructing a cosmopolitan Mandarin style through selectively combining features from both regional and global sources. This non-local style of Mandarin does not strictly conform to the standard of Putonghua. Explanations for the differential practice of the two groups are sought through differences in the linguistic markets in which they participate. This study demonstrates that the traditional territorially-based approach to sociolinguistic variation on a local–standard dimension is inadequate in examining practices that employ linguistic resources from both local and supra-local sources.
Type: Individual Paper
Status: Completed
Publication Info: Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 16 (2):215-235


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