Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T04:23:28.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The discursive construction of English naming practice in Mainland China: A nationalism and authenticity perspective

Netizens’ perceptions of the English name Angelababy reflect the dynamics and power relations in naming practices in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2017

Hao Wang  and
Mingfa Yao
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Recently, a regional newspaper agency in Mainland China reported on the Chinese celebrity Angelababy by using her English name (Net Ease Entertainment, 2016). A reader complained about this, suggesting that Angelababy's Chinese name needs to be in the report as well. The reader's comment and the name Angelababy went viral on many online news outlets, and comments were posted about the problems associated with such an English name from a large number of Chinese netizens.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Today , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 39 - 45
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, B. 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Blommaert, J. & Varis, P. 2015. ‘Enoughness, accent and light communities: Essays on contemporary identities.’ Tilburg Papers in Culture Studies, 139, 1–72.Google Scholar
Buendgens-Kosten, J. 2014. ‘Authenticity.’ ELT Journal, 68(4), 457–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheang, J. 2008. ‘Choice of foreign names as a strategy for identity management.’ Intercultural Communication Studies, 17(2), 197–202.Google Scholar
Chien, G. C. W. 2012. Elementary School EFL Learners' Adoption of English Names and Implications for Classroom Practice. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2(3), 469–74.Google Scholar
Costelloe, L. 2014. ‘Discourses of sameness: Expressions of nationalism in newspaper discourse on French urban violence in 2005.’ Discourse & Society, 25(3), 315–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, J. & Durrheim, K. 2000. ‘Displacing place-identity: A discursive approach to locating self and other.’ British Journal of Social Psychology, 39(1), 27–44.Google Scholar
Gao, X. S. 2012a. ‘“Cantonese is not a dialect”: Chinese netizens’ defence of Cantonese as a regional lingua franca.’ Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(5), 449–64.Google Scholar
Gao, X. S. 2012b. ‘The study of English in China as a patriotic enterprise.’ World Englishes, 31(3), 351–65.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hall, S., 1992. The question of cultural identity. In Hall, S., Held, D., & McGrew, A. G. (eds.) Modernity and its futures (pp. 274–316). Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Holliday, A., Hyde, M. & Kullman, J. 2004. Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Reader. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Huang, C. Y. & Ke, I. C. 2016. ‘Parents’ perspectives on adopting English names in Taiwan.’ Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(8), 849–61.Google Scholar
Lowe, R. J. & Pinner, R. 2016. ‘Finding the connections between native-speakerism and authenticity.’ Applied Linguistics Review, 7(1), 27–52.Google Scholar
Mayr, A. 2008. Language and Power: An Introduction to Institutional Discourse. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Motha, S. & Lin, A. 2014. ‘“Non-coercive rearrangements”: Theorizing desire in TESOL.’ TESOL Quarterly, 48(2), 331–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Net Ease Entertainment. 2016. ‘读者建议报纸为Angelababy备注中文名：尊重我们.’ Online at <http://ent.163.com/16/0628/14/BQLE9S2C00031H2L.html> (Accessed August 15 2016).+(Accessed+August+15+2016).>Google Scholar
Polkinghorne, D. E. 1995. ‘Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis.’ International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23.Google Scholar
Schmitt, L. 2016. ‘Adopting an English name.’ Uncharted TESOL. Online at <http://blogs.newschool.edu/unchartedtesol/2016/05/25/adopting-an-english-name/> (Accessed April 23 2017).+(Accessed+April+23+2017).>Google Scholar
Sercombe, P., Young, T., Dong, M. & Lin, L. 2014. ‘The adoption of non-heritage names among Chinese mainlanders.’ Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 62(2), 65–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suzuki, T. 1999. Nihonjin Wa Naze Eigo Ga Dekinai Ka [Why Cannot Japanese People Function in English?]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Tse, T. K. C. 2014. ‘Constructing Chinese identity in post-colonial Hong Kong: A discursive analysis of the official nation-building project.’ Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 14(1), 188–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X. 2012. ‘“I am not a qualified dialect rapper”: Constructing hip-hop authenticity in China.’ Sociolinguistic Studies, 6(2), 333.Google Scholar
Widodo, S. T. 2014. ‘The development of personal names in Kudus, central Java, Indonesia.’ Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 134, 154–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yan, X. 2013. ‘English ants are digging holes in the Chinese levee: Language ideological debates in the Chinese media.’ Language Problems & Language Planning, 37(1), 31–45.Google Scholar
Yan, X. 2015. ‘“Macao has died, traditional Chinese characters have died”: A study of netizens' comments on the choice of Chinese scripts in Macao.’ Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(6), 564–75.Google Scholar