The globalised new economy, multiple identities, and commodification of the Chinese language in Pakistan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12738604 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Javid Iqbal (0000-0002-0177-5866, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, corresponding author), Farzana Masroor (0000-0002-6980-1952, Air War College) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-22 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Multilingualism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1479-0718 • E-ISSN: 1747-7530 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14790718.2026.2642399 |
| OpenAlex | W7138992569 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 41 |
Discourse on China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects Chinese language as a soft power to shape, mould, and reshape public opinion in a particular direction. CPEC is a project between China and Pakistan based on economic and geo-strategic grounds. As an ideology-loaded capital, Chinese has been stimulated as a resource language of the international market in the globalised new economy. This study explores CPEC discourse for how the Chinese language promoted under the patronage of CPEC is producing multiple identities in the form of Chinese as a commodified language. The study uses the Model of Investment as a theoretical model with Power Theory in terms of power discourse in the broader circle of CPEC discourse to investigate how the current identities of Chinese language learners are shifting to a multiple-ideology mode, along with English as the existing language of the market. The results show that learning Chinese has developed into a new form of identity for learners who seek to utilise this language as a capital in the global linguistic market. The findings imply that learners of Chinese in Pakistan invest themselves in this language to reposition their ideologies in a new direction of multiple identities attached to Chinese as a new commodified language.
China · Chinese language · Commodification · Globalization · Language planning · Multilingualism · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts
The Discourse Studies Reader
The Rise of English
Identity and Language Learning
Language as Resource in the Globalized New Economy
Language in Late Capitalism
Power shifts in international organisations
New speakers on lost ground in the football stadium
The Discourses of Capitalism
Structures of Discourse and Structures of Power
Neo-imperialism, the Final Stage of Imperialism
Myths and realities of ‘global’ English
Amid signs of change
Projecting the Chinese Language as a Power Tool in the Discourse on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
Picking One's Battles
Building linguistic bridges
Local villages and global networks
Linguistic imperialism, English, and development
Why linguistic entrepreneurship
The Cost of Change
The promise of Chinese
English language assistants in the 21st century
Phillipson's Linguistic Imperialism Revisited at the light of Latin American Decoloniality Approach
Soft Power
Identity and a Model of Investment in Applied Linguistics
Language, commodification and labour
The value(s) of English as global linguistic capital
Europe's Linguistic Challenge
Introduction
English and discourses of commodification among tourism workers in the Himalayas
Linguistic Capital in the University and the Hegemony of English
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |