Sociolinguistic representations and language practices related to Tibetan/Chinese language contact in universities in Shandong, China.

Summary China, a multinational country with 56 nationalities, has a complex linguistic configuration with more than two hundred languages within it. The prestige and hegemony of contemporary standardized Chinese relegates the languages and cultures of the 55 ethnic minorities to the shadows, in contrast to a state policy advocating the "flowering of the 56 nationalities in the great family of the Chinese Nation". In the current context of China's polemical approach to ethnic issues and accelerated urbanization and globalization, this dissertation aims to shed light on the language practices, glottopolitical interventions, language representations, and sociolinguistic identity of Tibetans in their aspirations for academic and social success in mainland China, specifically in Shandong province - our field of investigation. Our reflection is based on a sociolinguistic survey, both quantitative and qualitative, carried out with a group of Tibetan students attending school in Shandong.