The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum

Based on an empirical case study in the Palace Museum in Beijing, China, this article sketches out the functional usefulness of the English language from an economic perspective, providing an empirical estimation of the economic values of English in the linguistic landscape of the Chinese tourism ma...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xiao, Rong, Pang, Chaowei
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2024
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23875/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23875/1/TM%2011.pdf
_version_ 1848815957244379136
author Xiao, Rong
Pang, Chaowei
author_facet Xiao, Rong
Pang, Chaowei
author_sort Xiao, Rong
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Based on an empirical case study in the Palace Museum in Beijing, China, this article sketches out the functional usefulness of the English language from an economic perspective, providing an empirical estimation of the economic values of English in the linguistic landscape of the Chinese tourism marketplace. It develops a topical understanding of the commodification of the English language by taking into consideration both the English language as a commodity and the process of English language commodification. Research data were gathered from a number of sources, including English introductory signboards on-site, questionnaire surveys, and interviews. Analysis shows that three major dimensions of economic value could be detected from the use of English in the Palace Museum: the communicative value, the informative value, and the symbolic value. While this study contributes a socioeconomic perspective to the English language in the Chinese tourism context, it could shed light on the adoption and economic values of the English language in similar contexts in the world.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T00:58:14Z
format Article
id oai:generic.eprints.org:23875
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-15T00:58:14Z
publishDate 2024
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:238752024-07-25T05:09:49Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23875/ The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum Xiao, Rong Pang, Chaowei Based on an empirical case study in the Palace Museum in Beijing, China, this article sketches out the functional usefulness of the English language from an economic perspective, providing an empirical estimation of the economic values of English in the linguistic landscape of the Chinese tourism marketplace. It develops a topical understanding of the commodification of the English language by taking into consideration both the English language as a commodity and the process of English language commodification. Research data were gathered from a number of sources, including English introductory signboards on-site, questionnaire surveys, and interviews. Analysis shows that three major dimensions of economic value could be detected from the use of English in the Palace Museum: the communicative value, the informative value, and the symbolic value. While this study contributes a socioeconomic perspective to the English language in the Chinese tourism context, it could shed light on the adoption and economic values of the English language in similar contexts in the world. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2024-03 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23875/1/TM%2011.pdf Xiao, Rong and Pang, Chaowei (2024) The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 30 (1). pp. 142-157. ISSN 0128-5157 https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1668
spellingShingle Xiao, Rong
Pang, Chaowei
The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum
title The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum
title_full The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum
title_fullStr The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum
title_full_unstemmed The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum
title_short The commodification of English language in Chinese tourism: a case study of the Palace Museum
title_sort commodification of english language in chinese tourism: a case study of the palace museum
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23875/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23875/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/23875/1/TM%2011.pdf