The Impact of Tourism on the Linguistic Landscape of Naxi Dongba Script
Based on qualitative fieldwork in three historic towns near Lijiang (Dayan, Shuhe, and Baisha) at different stages of tourism development, this paper applies the informational-function / symbolic-function framework of linguistic-landscape theory to ask whether tourism is genuinely reviving Naxi Dongba script. It finds Dongba-script signage has spread rapidly alongside tourism growth, driven by government policy and by business operators seeking an "exotic" commercial appeal, and concentrated on the busiest tourist streets. However, operators, tourists, government staff, and most residents cannot actually read Dongba script and do not care about its accuracy; a 2012 government survey found 92.6% of 700 sampled Dongba-script signs contained errors, with only 5% fully correct. The authors conclude the script's tourism-era revival is purely symbolic, lacking the informational function needed for real language vitality, and argue genuine revival requires cultivating a small core of literate cultural-elite transmitters rather than relying on commercial tourism.
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