Negotiating racialized third-space personae as multilingual professionals: raciolinguistic experiences of Chinese American and white CSL speakers in Chinese workplaces

This study analyzes the divergent raciolinguistic experiences of Chinese Americans and white Americans who speak Mandarin at an advanced level and how they negotiate their various Third-Space personae as multilingual global professionals in Chinese workplaces. While both groups face discordance between the personae in the perception (how they were expected to perform) and the personae in the representation (how they wish to be perceived), heritage Chinese speakers reported being constantly judged against shifting raciolinguistic expectations in their multilingual workplaces which alienated them from the local Chinese and denied them the privilege white expatriates enjoy.

Duke Scholars

Author Xin Zhang DKU Faculty