Language ideology and the cultural politics of multilingualism in Chinese state entertainment television: CCTV national TV host competition

While existing studies have examined how Chinese state media embed ideological agendas through language, far less is known about the ideologies articulated about language itself. This study addresses this gap by analysing the cultural politics of linguistic diversity in the National TV Host Competition, a high-profile yet understudied talent show produced by China Central Television. Drawing on Agha, Asif’s. (2003. “The Social Life of Cultural Value.” Language & Communication 23 (3–4): 231–273) notion of enregisterment, the paper shows how state entertainment television enacts language ideologies by shaping the visibility and indexical meanings of Hanzi, Putonghua, regional varieties and non-Han languages. Although multilingual elements appear, Hanzi and Putonghua are consistently elevated as markers of unity and civilisation, whereas dialects and minority languages are showcased in affectively appealing yet constrained ways. These patterns exemplify a mode of state multilingualism in which diversity is symbolically celebrated but disciplined through monoglot, standard-language ideologies. This study extends existing debates on language ideology, showing how entertainment television functions as a key site in the state management of linguistic diversity.