Work

Creation of a pseudo-language as spectacle: A critical study on the linguistic landscape of heritage tourism

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: As an essential component of culture, the commodification of language is a prevalent yet underexplored topic in tourism studies. This article investigates the Dongba script of the Naxi ethnic group in Lijiang, Yunnan, China, illustrating how a religious script has been transformed into a “pseudo-language” from a critical heritage studies perspective. Employing multiple methods, it explores how ethnic languages become spectacles in tourism contexts, analyzes how World Heritage discourse influences local language policies and stakeholder practices, and discusses language's distinctive attributes as a tourism resource. The findings contribute to debates on authenticity in heritage tourism, enhance methodologies for examining linguistic landscapes, and advocate increased respect and safeguarding of minority languages in tourism research and practice.

Source: Annals of Tourism Research

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2025.104019

Authors: Aiheng Zhang, Jia Xie

Institutions: Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, South China Normal University

Language: English

Topic: Multilingual Education and Policy

Subfield: Linguistics and Language

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China

Awards: G2234304600, G3525836924