Linguistic landscaping from above in China: scale-making and language ideologies

Studying the structure of polycentric cities can promote a better understanding of urban development and contribute to urban planning. In this study, we identified polycentric cities in China and evaluated the urban centre development level of polycentric cities from new data and method. We used Luojia-1A night-time light (NTL) data, combined with the concept of natural cities (NCs), to identify urban centres and thus identify polycentric cities in China. In addition, we used the urban centre development index (UCDI) to quantify the urban centre development level (UCDL) that represents the overall urban centre development level within a polycentric city. The polycentric cities in China are characterized by the spatial distribution pattern of a larger number in the east and fewer in the west. There are a large number of polycentric cities in eastern China, and the closer to the coastal areas, the more polycentric cities there are. The distribution of UCDL in China’s polycentric cities is characterized by significant spatial heterogeneity. UCDLs are generally smaller in polycentric cities in western China. In addition, polycentric cities in northeastern China have smaller UCDL. Polycentric cities with high UCDL are concentrated in the central and coastal regions of China.

Distribution and fate of antibiotics in water-sediment-biofilm phases and their potential risks in urban lakes within a large-scale city in eastern China.

Introduction. The paper analyzes the linguistic landscape of the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar in an interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological context: at the junction of social semiotics, ethnography, and linguistic landscape studies as a subdiscipline of sociolinguistics. The aim of the study is to analyze the linguistic landscape signs and social meanings attributed to them by the inhabitants of Ulaanbaatar, as well as linguistic ideologies underlying social indexicality. The method used include photographing linguistic landscape units in the center of Ulaanbaatar and surveying representatives of small businesses and ordinary urban dwellers. In total, 576 units of the linguistic landscape and 100 questionnaires collected in March 2024 served as material for analysis. Results. A synchronous ‘crosscut’ of the linguistic landscape of Ulaanbaatar showed that the key ‘players’ in the linguistic ‘field’ of Mongolia — both in the capital’s linguistic landscape and in the collective consciousness are the official Mongolian language, English, followed by Chinese, Russian and Korean; vertical Mongolian writing has a special symbolic meaning. Behind the predominantly Mongolian linguistic landscape with a tendency towards Westernization other trends and ideologies have been revealed. On the one hand, it is the openness of the country and its orientation towards international cooperation, on the other hand, people’s concern about the future of the Mongolian language and its ‘purity’. The analysis also showed an ambivalent attitude towards English and Chinese in and outside the linguistic landscape, which is due to both historical memory and potential threats to the ‘small country’ from powerful neighbors and globalization, which jeopardizes national identity. As a certain ‘reconciliation’ of ambivalent language ideologies a hybrid naming strategy is interpreted, i.e. the combination of Mongolian and English on both official and unofficial signs of the linguistic landscape. This naming strategy has a multiple indexical value: this is both a representation of the Mongolian national identity and a manifestation of internationalization strategy and commodification of languages. The linguistic landscape in Ulaanbaatar creates a deceptive impression of a large presence of the Russian language, which is created due to the Cyrillic alphabet as a graphic system of the modern Mongolian language and a large number of Russian borrowings. The attitude towards Chinese is characterized by the greatest ambivalence when anti-Chinese sentiments exist along with awareness of its commodification value. In general, the linguistic landscape of Ulaanbaatar is in a state of dynamic transformation, and the increase in the symbolic weight of some languages (English, Chinese and Korean) and the decrease of others (Russian) metonymically reflects the vector of the country’s development and its value orientations.

Atmospheric wet deposition of mercury in urban Jinan, eastern China: Speciation, scavenging process and potential sources

China׳s 19-year city-level carbon emissions of energy consumptions, driving forces and regionalized mitigation guidelines

Language is a tool for instruction and expressing perspectives (Turetsky et al, 2021). This study aimed to explore the ideologies navigated through translanguaging in Pakistani institutions where English Language instruction is provided as an extra language (EAL). Following an exploratory sequential mixed method design, a survey of 31 items was administered to the language teachers n=100 after conducting non-participant observations of 480 minutes. For this study, the Ideological Model of Literacy (Curiel and Ponzio, 2021) was chosen as the conceptual framework. Observations revealed the involuntary navigation of primarily seven ideologies in the Pakistani classrooms. Quantitative data were analysed through SPSS 20.0, revealing that political ideologies and world Englishes ideologies secured the lowest average score of 2.34. However, racio-linguistic and English-only ideologies were averaged as 3.34. The results indicated that, in contrast, both multilingual ideologies and imperialistic ideologies had a higher mean score of 4.5. This study highlighted learners’ awareness of how their EAL instructors can navigate language ideologies through Translanguaging. References Aghai, L., Sayer, P., & Vercellotti, M. L. (2020). Effects of teachers’ language ideologies on language learners’ translanguaging practices in an intensive English program. In Envisioning TESOL through a translanguaging lens: Global perspectives (pp. 345–362). Agwu Udu, D., Nmadu, J., Uwaleke, C. C., Anudu, A. P., Chukwunonso Okechineke, B., Attamah, P. C., ... & Ogonna, O. C. (2022). Innovative pedagogy and improvement of students’ knowledge retention in science education: Learning activity package instructional approach. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 30(3). Ali, I., Azim, M. U., & Rehman, A. U. (2024). 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English language learning does not only happen within the four corners of the classroom, but it may occur even within the learner‟s immediate community. Learning English can be enhanced through various resources like the available linguistic landscape. According to Landry and Bourhis (1997, p. 25) the term linguistic landscape (LL) is defined as the language of public road signs, advertising billboards, street names, place names, commercial shop signs, and public signs on government buildings combines to form the LL of a given territory, region, or urban agglomeration. As such, it contributes to an additional languagelearning tool for language learners. It is, therefore, the focus of this study to examine the use of the linguistic landscape as a pedagogical resource in teaching and learning English. This study examines explicitly the shop names and signage in Oman. To carry on the study, fifty (50) shop names and signage in Al Buraimi, Oman were collected and analyzed. The findings of the study reveal that the linguistic landscape does not only provide awareness about the English language, but it also enhances the learners‟ English language skills. This study supports the notion that exposing learners to the linguistic landscape provides awareness of the languages used in public signs, which indicate or give evidence of what languages are locally relevant (Kasanga, 2012). This study offers new insights on how classroom activities can be extended to the streets of the learners‟ community.

This article explores the linguistic landscape (LL) of a tourist town named Dingle located in the Southwest of Ireland. Building on recent theorizing in LL studies, where a discourse-analytical approach to LL data is promoted, the study uncovers a number of contesting language ideologies that circulate in the LL of Dingle. The contest involves two key actors, namely the State and the local community, who promote a number of discourse frames that show contesting language ideologies. On the one hand the State promotes an Andersonesque (Anderson, 1983) modernist ideology of ‘one Nation one language’, where Dingle is a key space where such an ideology can be safeguarded. While, on the other hand, local people promote a postmodernist ideology of multilingualism, in which the value of the Irish language is part of a wider bi/multilingual repertoire. This suggests that the LL can be viewed as a dynamic space that is significant in indexing and performing language ideologies that are continually being contested and renegotiated.

This study aimed to investigate the dominant language used (English or Indonesian Language) in the linguistics landscape in Indonesia. Therefore, the research method applied in this study was descriptive analysis, and the technique of collecting the data was documentation technique. The finding shows that the dominant language used at malls or shopping centres was English, while at the office building of private companies and streets, the linguistics landscapes were dominantly written in the Indonesian language. However, this research was only focused on the Indonesian and English language used in the linguistics landscape. Therefore, research is suggested to be conducted in more languages and more places for better findings and impact.

This study investigates the linguistic landscape of private and commercial domains by employing a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative analysis. Drawing on open-source data obtained via the PyCharm coding environment, including the names and founding years of all milk tea brands in Nanjing, it explores language choices in both synchronic and diachronic contexts. Additionally, it explores language ideologies reflected in the linguistic landscape, incorporating insights gathered from postmodern walking tour interviews. Our findings indicate that prior to 2010, the milk tea industry in China was in its nascent stage, with English dominating brand names due to influences from Western culture, globalisation, and its perceived association with luxury and trendiness. However, post-2010, Chinese gradually supplanted English as the predominant language choice for brand establishment and revisions, albeit retaining its close association with affordability. Notably, our findings highlight that public social events often exert a more profound impact on shaping and constructing public language ideologies than national language and education policies. In other words, bottom-up constructed language ideologies play a more pivotal role in shaping and producing language practices and hierarchies in the commercial field compared to top-down approaches.

This paper examines diasporic language ecology based on a sociolinguistic study of a Chinese complementary school (CCS) in Birmingham, England. The study applies a historical perspective to investigate local multilingual practices in relation to language ideology and identity. The discussion in this paper draws on heteroglossia to investigate language stratification in the CCS. It documents the impact of global mobility and socio-economic changes on shifting power relations among two Chinese language varieties (Putonghua and Cantonese) and English. Data for the discussion includes audio-recordings of interaction and interview as well as fieldnote vignettes. Findings show that (1) a stratified ideological ecology including ‘separate bilingualism’, ‘translanguaging’, ‘a preferred school-wide monolingualism’, and ‘a standard language ideology’ is dynamically constructed and negotiated in the school as a local heteroglossia; (2) At the intra-Chinese level, the Chinese language shift from Cantonese to Putonghua at global level is seeing its power in the local discourses of Putonghua becoming ‘the new diasporic standard’. This standardisation towards Putonghua, on one hand, is claimed and celebrated in the school by some Putonghua-speaking members as ‘practical’ and ‘useful’ for better communication; on the other side, it is also contested – sometimes silently – in tension-filled local interactions by groups of Chinese people who lack the resource of Putonghua in their repertoires. This complex and tension-filled standardisation of diasporic Chinese language provides new local discourses of global mobility and the ongoing conversion from linguistic standardisation to social inequality.

Under the influence of development strategies with regard to national fitness and health in China, the interactive development between national fitness and national health is becoming increasingly strong. To explore the coupling and coordination relationship between national fitness and national health, this paper conducts an empirical analysis of the coupling and coordination relationship between national fitness and national health in 11 provinces and cities in Eastern China using the entropy weight method, a coupling coordination model, spatial visualization of the coupling coordination degree and spatial autocorrelation analysis. The research confirms that the comprehensive development level of national fitness and national health in Eastern China shows a steady upward trend, with a lag in national fitness as a whole, and that the growth rate of national fitness development is faster than that of national health development. The coupling coordination degree of the two systems of national fitness and national health in Eastern China shows a slow upward trend, and the coupling coordination degree rises from barely coordinated to primary coordination. There are significant differences in the spatial pattern of coupling coordination: the spatial pattern from north to south generally shows 'low-high-high-low-high-low' characteristics, and the spatial spillover effect of coupling coordination in various regions has not yet appeared. The revised GM(1.1) prediction results indicate that the level and improvement rate of coupling coordination will accelerate significantly in the next 10 years, but the spatial differences will still exist. Finally, suggestions are proposed to optimize the coupling and coordinated development of national fitness and national health based on policy guarantees as well as strengthening and cross-regional cooperation.

Linguistic landscape (LL) studies explore how public spaces mediate cultural, social, and economic practices through semiotic resources. While prior research has emphasized top-down regulated heritage sites and globalized retail spaces, the LLs of everyday leisure venues, especially cafés in mid-sized Chinese cities, remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap by investigating the linguistic landscapes of independent cafés in Suzhou through an integrated framework combining discursive frames, thematic abstraction, and discourse itineraries. Drawing on municipal policy texts, news reports, ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and photographic documentation, this study identifies three overlapping discursive frames: resilient alienation, heritage commodification, and emotional self- and interpersonal care. These frames illuminate how multilingual signage, online catchphrases, poetic expressions, calligraphic scripts, and spatial design are appropriated by policymakers, café owners and consumers to critically or compliantly engage with overwork culture, aestheticize heritage, and cultivate care-oriented connection. Importantly, these discursive frames are not isolated; they intersect and are shaped by multiple agents in contingent ways at the online-offline nexus. This study contributes to LL research by extending attention to semiotic processes in everyday commercial settings and demonstrating how emotional, cultural, and socio-economic discourses become spatially and symbolically entangled. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed at the end.

Since molecular typing method of enterovirus was introduced, many new types have been discovered. However, due to the low epidemic potential, the information on newer enteroviruses remains limited globally. This study aims to investigate the diversity and phylogeny of newer enterovirus types through environmental surveillance utilizing next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Sixty-six wastewater samples were collected from two cities in eastern China between 2019 and 2021 and concentrated 100-fold using a negatively charged membrane method. After cell culture, 388 enterovirus isolates representing 14 serotypes were recovered, including Sabin-like poliovirus type 1 (n = 22) and type 3 (n = 57). Concurrently, RNA extraction was performed on all 66 sewage concentrates, and VP1 semi-nested RT-PCR yielded 56 amplicons, which were subsequently subjected to NGS. The NGS analysis identified a total of 33 serotypes, with echovirus 11, coxsackievirus A10, echovirus 18, coxsackievirus B4, and coxsackievirus B5 being the most prevalent, accounting for 29.11%, 9.87%, 8.27%, 8.14%, and 6.10% of the total reads, respectively. Newer identified enterovirus types A76, A89, A90, and C113 were detected in 1 (1.52%), 17 (25.76%), 5 (7.58%), and 6 (9.09%) sewage samples, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on the partial VP1 coding region indicated that these local enteroviruses formed distinct lineages separate from previously identified strains. These findings demonstrate that sewage contains enteroviruses with considerable diversity. NGS-based sewage surveillance offers a significant advantage in data output compared to the cell culture method and can be effectively utilized for monitoring newer enterovirus strains.

During the first quarter of 2020, a considerable increase in reports of symptomatic hepatitis A cases was noted in Yantai, a coastal city in eastern China. This study aimed to characterize the epidemic and identify the probable source. Serum samples from cases with onsets from 1 January to 31 March 2020 and suspected bivalve mollusk samples from the local seafood market were screened for hepatitis A virus (HAV) RNA by PCR amplification and sequencing of the VP1/2A region. We also analyzed the characteristics and risk exposures of these cases. In total, 110 confirmed cases were notified during the epidemic. Among the 103 cases investigated, the median age was 41 years (range: 25–70 years), and 74 (71.8%) were male. Eighty-eight cases (85.4%) reported having eaten shellfish and 72 (69.9%) specifically oysters. HAV RNA was detected and sequenced successfully in 80.2% (69/86) of the cases, as well as in one oyster out of 20 shellfish samples. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all isolates belonged to a single genotype IA but presented the co-circulation of five distinct genomic sub-lineages. The oyster-derived HAV strain shared over 98.2% nucleotide identity with all clinical strains obtained during the epidemic, particularly 100% homology with the strains of seven cases. These data indicated that contaminated oyster consumption was probably a common source of this epidemic, although multiple HAV strains were involved. We recommend strengthening shellfish surveillance, changing dietary habits in seafood consumption, and encouraging vaccination for target adults in coastal areas with a high prevalence of hepatitis A.