Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: The acquisition and use of English names in China isusually treated by scholars as evidence of growing Westernization by Chinese speakers, who are forced to acquire these namesto successfully converse with foreigners. In this article, I drawon an ethnographic examination of Chinese English names andnaming narratives to reveal the indexical connections betweennames and meanings. Rather than acting as simple indices ofWestern identities, English names are dynamic signifiers in acomplex social field of interactions that are distinctly Chinese.The characteristics of desirable English names borrow from acultural pragmatics of Chinese naming instead of foreign norms.
Source: Anthropologica
Author: Eric S. Henry
Language: English
Topic: Language and Culture
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W327844866