1 Introduction

The subway space is a highly standardized public transportation space with strict requirements for time accuracy, operational efficiency, and passenger flow load. As a language practice of subway space, subway station names have referential and descriptive functions. The referential function emphasizes the direct matching between station names and subway space, while the descriptive function focuses on semantic description. Beijing subway station names have a high degree of standardization in language expression and modal selection, strictly complying with the National General Language and Writing Law and foreign language identification management regulations, using standardized Chinese characters and Chinese English codes, with concise grammatical structures and clear meanings, ensuring the uniqueness and certainty of station name reference. In terms of modal selection, standard fonts and color combinations are used to refer to the subway space behind and guide passenger activities. The characteristics of large passenger flow, high efficiency, and international universality in subway space provide favorable conditions for the implementation of the national universal language and writing policy. The expression of subway station names can easily create a radiation effect, which stabilizes and forms a passenger reception experience. Compared with commercial streets and residential areas, subway spaces provide normative conditions, while there are variations in the names of commercial shops and the creative use of language and characters by residents. Subway proper names remove the subject's perspective and position, focus on information function, have a neutral position, and refer to objects with uniqueness and certainty. Subway space proper names contain norms and emphasize reference; Commercial space proper names contain variation and focus on description. The language practice in subway space constitutes the conditions for the language policy transformation mechanism, and the maintenance and change of subway station names have significant language policy significance.

Composition and Capacity of Subway Station Names

The names of Beijing subway stations consist of the business name "subway", place name, and common name "station", reflecting the common attributes and geographical location of subway stations. Place names carry historical, social, and cultural factors, becoming the core distinguishing elements of station names. Subway station names have two basic abilities: identification and indexing, corresponding to referential and descriptive functions, respectively. Identify the type of space, achieve uniqueness of reference, and facilitate passengers' identification and differentiation; The social reality space adjacent to the index has hierarchical characteristics. The instrumental significance of subway station names is paramount, ensuring the uniqueness and certainty of the referent space. The introduction of place or institution names into subway station names not only achieves differentiation under unified standards, but also forms a connection between subway stations and adjacent spaces, conveying historical, cultural, and social significance. Passengers' cognition of the process of indexing subway station names shows a sequential pattern, generally first recognizing the function of synchronic tools, and then recognizing the historical and cultural significance over time.

3 Changes in subway station names

Since the release of the "English Translation Method for Beijing Urban Rail Transit Station Names" by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport at the end of 2020, the translation method for Beijing subway station names has undergone multiple changes, mainly manifested in the change from English translation to Pinyin transliteration, and at the same time, the Pinyin writing method has also changed. This change was formulated based on relevant laws and regulations, national standards, and expert opinions. During the change process, the subway station name changed from a combination of "Chinese characters+Pinyin+English" to a pure Chinese combination of "Chinese characters+Pinyin", which lowered the status of English and elevated the status of Chinese, belonging to the language status planning. Language state management adjusts language facts by changing code orientation, grammatical structure, etc., while semantic management involves the management of semantics. The change to Pinyin has reduced the semantic transparency and openness of subway station names, affecting the decoding of station names by non-native Chinese speakers. The indexing function of subway station names involves physical space, social space, and historical and cultural space, and the phonetic change weakens the descriptive function and indexing ability of subway station names. The translation method of subway station names used to follow the "General Rules for the Translation and Writing of Chinese Signs in Public Places", but after the change of pinyin, pinyin and English translation coexist, reflecting a concession from policy standardization to service. Pinyin translation not only involves English translation issues, but also the issue of language sovereignty in place name translation. The phonetic transformation of subway station names has changed people's perception of the formation of subway station names, affecting the "language habits" and "language ideology" of subway station names.

4 Language Attitude

This chapter explores the impact of the pinyin problem of Beijing subway station names on non-native Chinese speaking passengers. Through snowball sampling, a study investigated the attitudes of 201 non-native Chinese speakers and found that passengers have a high level of attention to the translation of subway station names. 75.6% of respondents pay attention to the Latin letters of station names when taking the subway, indicating that changes in the translation of station names can attract public attention and have a certain social impact. Regarding the attitude towards pinyin, 41.8% of the respondents support pinyin and believe that changing to pinyin is more convenient to use; 39.3% of respondents oppose pinyin and believe that English is easier to understand; 18.9% of the respondents remained neutral, believing that both have their own advantages and disadvantages. 50.2% of the respondents stated that changing to Pinyin would affect recognition and usage; 48.3% believe that changing to Pinyin will not affect it; 1.5% remains neutral. The reasons why the respondents oppose pinyin include: English translation helps to understand station names, pinyin will affect the understanding and use of foreign tourists, pinyin will reduce the efficiency of interpreting station names, and the pinyin writing method of subway station names does not comply with orthographic norms. The reasons why the respondents support Pinyin include: Pinyin helps with electronic retrieval, Pinyin fills the gap of not being able to speak Chinese, and comparing Pinyin with Chinese characters is helpful for learning Chinese. Some passengers emphasize the unity of policies, believing that regardless of whether subway station names are translated into pinyin or English, unity is the most important. Research has shown that the pinyin conversion of subway station names reflects the loss of semantic expression function of station names. Pinyin focuses on phonetic transcription and cannot index semantics. Pinyin will make it difficult for them to understand the meaning conveyed by subway station names, make it difficult to make geographical positioning, and even with electronic means, it will not help them understand the social, historical, and cultural meanings behind station names. Although passengers have different attitudes towards the phenomenon of pinyin, these attitudes are all related to the experience of different passengers using subway station names, and it is difficult to directly relate them to the policy of station names. In the highly standardized transportation space of the subway, the "selectivity" of language policy is particularly typical, making it difficult to balance the interests of all parties.

5 Language Policy Principles

This chapter explores the three core principles of language policy for Beijing subway station names: stability and flexibility, universality and specificity, and coordination among actors. The principle of stability and flexibility emphasizes that language policies should be updated in a timely manner to adapt to social development while maintaining the stability of standard procedures, such as the adjustment of subway station names. The principle of universality and particularity discusses the need for subway station names to consider the special meanings and experiences of different passengers while meeting normative conditions, as well as the differentiated implementation of language policies in different social contexts. The principle of coordination among actors states that the implementation of language policies requires cooperation from bottom-up actors. Policy makers should consider the diverse positions of receivers, balance the relationship between language policies and services, and regard receiver recognition as the basic principle for exercising language norms. Overall, language planning in public spaces should respect language reality, consider public acceptability and social linguistic attributes, clarify policy boundaries, and scientifically regulate intervention efforts.

6 additional discussions

Emphasis was placed on the importance of language policy in terms of standardization, pointing out that passengers understand the standardized meaning of subway space by reading station names, which is closely related to the utilization, purpose, and efficiency of subway space. As a highly standardized public space, the subway provides opportunities for language policy intervention, but also brings challenges for practical transformation. Language policy needs to consider the role of language in the social field, and subway rules are externalized through language rules, reflecting as behavioral constraints for passengers. The name of a subway station is a linguistic fact of a specific social context, connecting language and social interfaces, and has sociolinguistic significance. The practical transformation of language policy in subway space is more about establishing language norms rather than adjusting speech acts, and its value has social significance. The station name, as a clue to the conceptual system, has symbolic significance and refers to the entire subway station. Utilizing the subway is a social fact, and reading station names and understanding the social and cultural significance of station name components is a linguistic action. The intervention of language policy in subway space affects daily urban life, extending from subway station names to other functional spaces in the city, reflecting the dual requirements of standardization and innovation. Policy orientation lies in balancing normativity and innovation, and the mechanistic requirement to translate policy provisions into practice is not only the goal of language policy, but also the direction of social development.