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Jul 29, 2020 · It should not be left alone. Across China, Beijing apparently intends to replace the languages of all ethnic minorities with Mandarin, to bring in uniformity of language and...
- The Language Preservation Project
- Surveying Language
- Preventing Language Loss
In 2015, China’s State Language Commission and the Ministry of Education launched the Language Preservation Project (often referred to as yu-bao). The first phase of the project spanned five years. Between 2015 and 2019, several hundred languages and dialects were surveyed across the country, with a total of 1,712 survey points, including more than...
The surveys focus on language structure and discourse. Language structure relates to the sound systemand grammar of a language. Some 2,000 lexical (that is, relating to words or the vocabulary of a language) features are used to examine the sound system and the lexicon, including a 1,200-word basic vocabulary to ensure a good description of the sou...
Research on the preservation of language resources has achieved remarkable results over the past 20 years, but language endangerment and loss has not stopped. As the government and society develop a deeper understanding of the need to protect endangered languages and other language resources, work on language preservation will enter a new phase. Ch...
Jan 28, 2021 · Xi’s regressive language policy reflects the deepening repression in minority areas. It also contravenes China’s obligations under international human rights treaties, such as the Convention on...
Jan 2, 2021 · The PRC constitution proclaims that all nationalities are equal and have the freedom to use and develop their own spoken and written languages, but the 1995 Educational Law weakened this by stating that ethnic minorities “may” use their languages. Implementation is even weaker.
- Bernard Spolsky
- bspolsky@gmail.com
- 2021
Our findings show that in official documents, the value of promoting Mandarin typically prevails over the importance of protecting minority languages. Additionally, the government tends to equate minority assimilation with progress and advancement.
Jun 1, 2022 · In contrast, the plight of Inner Mongolians is not widely known. In 2020, the Chinese government announced a new language policy promoting immediate Mandarin-language education in schools in the region. This shows how actively China has been eradicating the identity of peripheral minority groups.
Zhou notes the “tortuous development” of this policy alongside a policy of “diversity” that includes the “conservation and development of ethnic minority languages”. The PRC currently recognizes fty-six ethnic groups, accounting for just over 8% of the population occupying 65% of Chinese territory, mainly in border areas.
