Abstract:

The global development of the Chinese language has become a strategic task for China in accelerating its own development and actively engaging in global development. Therefore, a critical question arises: How can we effectively assess the level of Chinese language development? Existing approaches to evaluating language development primarily include frameworks with respective advantages such as “language vitality”, “language functional status”, and “language integration into national education systems”. However, language is not only a symbolic system or behavioral process but also a form of social institution. The institutionalization of language as a governance process involves multiple parameters, including actor participation, institution forms, spatial distribution, and language-speaking population. By constructing a new system of indicators that incorporates these dimensions, it may be possible to gain deeper insights into the embedded status and development potential of the Chinese language within the global linguistic institutional framework.

Key words: global development of the Chinese language, international Chinese language education, evaluation, linguistic institution, institutionalization