A study of the commodification of Sinoperipheral writing in the linguistic landscape of China

Previous studies have shown the usefulness of looking at ethnic minority languages of China through the lens of linguistic landscape (LL). However, with the exception of Cantonese, not much research has been conducted exclusively on the use of vernacular Chinese dialects in the LL of China. This study adopts an LL approach to examine the use of Vernacular Written Hokkien (VWH) as a kind of Sinoperipheral writing in Quanzhou, a geographically peripheral city of China. The commodification of VWH in the commercial frame of Quanzhou illustrates the local political economy of languages in Quanzhou where VWH has been reframed and recontextualised as an economic and symbolic capital. Despite the mobility afforded by globalisation, the commodification of VWH in the commercial LL of Quanzhou does not alter the hegemony of Standard Written Chinese (SWC).