Remaking the Tongue: Linguistic Standardization and Chinese Identity in the Post-May Fourth Nanyang Diaspora
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines the transregional dissemination and localization of the post-May Fourth linguistic reforms—specifically Vernacular Chinese (baihua) and the National Language (Guoyu)—within the Chinese diaspora of Malaya and Singapore (Nanyang). Moving beyond the traditional "impact-response" paradigm, this study argues that the adoption of the vernacular was not merely a passive cultural importation from mainland China, but an "active fabrication of identity" necessitated by the complex realities of British colonial rule and severe internal dialectal fragmentation. By analyzing early Chinese press materials, such as the Sin Kuo Min Jit Poh, and local educational records, the research traces the tangible trajectory of this linguistic transformation. It first highlights the role of newspapers as media vanguards that transitioned from reprinting mainland literature to cultivating local vernacular expression to discipline oral traditions. Subsequently, it investigates the institutionalization of Guoyu in formal schools and grassroots night schools, which served to educate the laboring classes and dismantle provincial boundaries. Ultimately, the "remolding of the tongue" in Nanyang facilitated the construction of a transregional Zhonghua identity, demonstrating how language standardization functioned as a profound tool for social reorganization and diasporic integration.
Author: Lok-yin LAW
Institution: Education University of Hong Kong
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7166555174
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