The Languages of China

1. The Languages of China Chapter 1: A Language for all of China

2. Abolish the Chinese Language? Q: Qian Xuantong, an intellectual, suggested that the Chinese language should be abolished in the early years of the Republic (early 20th cent). Why, and what did he suggest as a solution?

3. Abolish the Chinese Language? Q: Qian Xuantong, an intellectual, suggested that the Chinese language should be abolished in the early years of the Republic (early 20th cent). Why, and what did he suggest as a solution? A: He argued that Chinese should be abolished in order to civilize and modernize China. He suggested replacing it with Esperanto.

4. Desire for a national language • After the 1911 overthrow of the Manchu dynasty, new Chinese nationalists wanted a national language for all of China. They believed a national language was indispensable for the functioning of a modern nation-state, and they desired to imitate the success of Japan in establishing a national language.

5. What was the linguistic situation of Chinese at the time (and has it changed)?

6. What was the linguistic situation of Chinese at the time (and has it changed)? • Linguistic standards had existed in China for over 2000 years, but they applied only to the written, classical language, not to the vernacular. • The way you read a text depended upon what part of the country you were from. • Pronunciations of texts were mutually incomprehensible.

7. What is Mandarin and what was its role?

8. What is Mandarin and what was its role? • Also known Guanhua “language of the officials”, this dialect served as an administrative lingua franca since the 15th century and was based on Beijing (Peking) speech (North). But it was NOT a standard language in imperial times, and was looked down on in the South (Canton).

10. What was supposed to happen at the 1913 Conference on Unification of Pronunciation? • Well, the goals were: • Create national standards for pronunciation of characters • Analyze standard pronunciation in terms of basic sounds (phonemes) • Adopt phonetic symbols for the basic sounds

11. What really happened at the 1913 Conference on Unification of Pronunciation? • The participants were not linguists, but rather representatives of various partisan groups. • The participants galvanized into two factions, one representing the North, and one representing the South, and backed off into their respective corners, refusing to come to an agreement.

12. More background on why the 1913 conference was a fiasco… • “The Chinese language” is more diverse than any other single “language” in the world. • What makes Chinese different is the number & complexity of dialects – the situation is more similar to that of a whole family of related languages. • The problem of standardization is an order of magnitude more complex, not comparable to anything in Europe.

13. More background on why the 1913 conference was a fiasco… • In the heat of the argument, a Southern speaker’s pronunciation of ‘rickshaw’ was misheard by a Northerner as a curse (SoB), and the Southerner was chased out. • Once he was gone, it was easier to pass a resolution adopting Mandarin (Guoyu) as a standard to be taught in schools.

14. What happened after the 1913 conference? • Power changed hands and there was less focus on the language issue for a while; the National Language Unification Commission wasn’t established until 1919. • The Guoyin dictionary that they published did not accurately portray Mandarin pronunciation -- it described an artificially archaic language that no one spoke. • Because no one spoke this language, no one could teach it, and even scholars couldn’t pronounce it correctly.

15. What happened after the 1913 conference?, cont’d • Literary reformers began to write using baihua, a vernacular style based on spoken Mandarin. • People began to realize that a national language would have to be based on a real dialect. • They chose the Mandarin dialect of Beijing, Putonghua. • But speakers of other dialects felt threatened, and they had to be promised protections. • It was hoped that intense educational efforts would establish a national language within 100 years…

16. Would the Chinese ever get a national language? • At the time (1930s), enforcement of linguistic assimilation was associated with Nazism & Fascism. • The Soviet style “federal nationalism” which recognized linguistic diversity, seemed like a better option (they ignored the fact that Stalin oppressed minorities). • Qu suggested separate standards for the various dialects, but was shot by Kuomintang in 1935.

17. The politicization of the Chinese language issue • Right: Advocates of Guoyu, the National Language, goal of unification, not fragmentation • Left: Separate standards for each “dialect” are morally unavoidable, a single standard would advantage bourgeoisie and disadvantage non-Mandarin speakers; Mandarin (Guanhua) reminded the left of the bureaucratic excesses of Qing officialdom

18. But what did the Communists do when they were in control?

19. But what did the Communists do when they were in control? • In 1956 Communists promoted unification via Putonghua, the “Common Language”, which is basically just Guanhua (Mandarin) with a new name. • Separate standards for the “dialects” were never achieved. • “It would…be unrealistic to expect the practical men who had managed to consolidate control of the entire country to turn around and Balkanize China by recognizing the status of these dialects as separate languages.”

20. The modern situation: • The Chinese “dialects” (especially in South China) are more diverse than the entire Romance language family, but most speakers consider it 1 language and most know several “dialects”. • Most educated people also learn Putonghua. • The Chinese people feel a strong cultural unity, with the oldest social institution on earth, and this may contribute to the illusion of a single language.