Table Of ContentTheLanguageSituationinChina
Volume2
Language Policies and
Practices in China
Edited by
李嵬
Li Wei ( )
Volume 2
The Language
Situation in China
Volume 2. 2008–2009
李宇明
Editor-in-Chief: Li Yuming ( )
周庆生 郭熙
Associate Editors: Zhou Qingsheng ( ), Guo Xi ( ) &
周洪波
Zhou Hongbo ( )
李嵬
English Editor: Li Wei ( )
许小颖
Editorial Assistants: Xu Xiaoying ( ) &
戴文颖
Dai Wenying ( )
赵守辉
Translation Advisors: Zhao Shouhui ( ),
姚小平 师鲁道
Yao Xiaoping ( ) & Rudolf Salzlechner ( )
The Commercial Press
ISBN978-1-61451-400-8
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Li Yuming (李宇明)
Preserving and developing language resources
Foreword to The Language Situation in China:
–
English Version, Vol. 2 (2008 2009)
In recent years,the idea of language resource has been gradually accepted and
extended from academic circles to language affairs and other fields of society,
and it has become a general focus of attention.With its humanistic properties,
language has become an important resource of the high-end of the new econ-
omy and information industry, and has entered the domain of hard power from
that of soft power with the development of computational linguistics and the
arrivaloftheinformationera.
Carefully considered, a language resource may be divided into three types:
1) natural language resource; 2) derivative language resource; and 3) linguistic
competence.
1 Natural language resource
A natural language is one that has evolved naturally in history as a means
of communication among people, e.g., Chinese, English, French, German,
Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, and Zhuang (壮) languages. A
natural language is composed of the common language and its dialects, and
if well-developed, has its written system. From the perspective of China, the
naturallanguageresourceincludes(i)Putonghua,Chinesedialectsandclassical
andcontemporaryChinesecharacters;(ii)Minoritynationallanguages,dialects,
andwriting;and(iii)Foreignlanguages,bothspokenandwritten.
Both(i)and(ii)arenativelanguageresources,whosecurrentconditionmay
besummarizedbelow:
1) Putonghua is spreading faster both in China and abroad and its learning
andapplicationvalueisbeingswiftlyheightened.
2) “Regional common languages” have their actual communicative value;
however,their linguistic status is not yet established and research is rather
limited.
3) The value of Chinese dialects is being reconsidered. Chinese dialects are
also changing fast with culture-loaded words passing swiftly. Therefore,
with the help of modern information means, research and preservation of
thesedialectsisbeingattempted.
vi LiYuming(李宇明)
4) More concern is being shown to the relationship between simplified and
traditionalChinesecharacters.Theintensifiedglobalinfluenceoftheformer
is unparalleled and emphasis is given domestically to the latter’s role in
culturalinheritance.
5) FrequentcommunicationbetweendomesticandoverseasChineseresultsin
mutual assimilationandpromotion,moving inthedirectionofconvergence.
Chinese-character-dependent polities are trying to reduce barriers of com-
municationinthevirtualaswellasactualworld.
6) Therewasnomajorchangeinthepastsixdecadesintheregionsandcom-
munities of ethnic languages. However, due to certain historical reasons
and reality factors, a lot of these languages are in decline or even en-
dangered, for instance, Manchu, Hezhen, Oroqen, She (畲), Tujia (土家),
Yugur,andQiang(羌).
7) Language life in the minority ethnic regions is characterized by a tendency
towardbilingualismormultilingualism.Minoritynationallanguages,particu-
larly those few with traditional writing systems, e.g. Mongolian, Tibetan,
Uygur, Kazak, Korean,Yi (彝) and Dai (傣), are playing their proper roles
inpolitics,education,culture,thepubliclanguageservice,anddigitization.
8) The investigation of minority languages, especially pluricentric languages,
needs to be improved and the preservation and protection of these lan-
guagesfromaculturalperspective,bymeansofmoderndigitaltechnology,
commandssocialconcern.
9) The international education in minority languages does not meet the
demandofinternationalcommunities.
10) Insufficient attention is given to the collection and processing of archaic
Chinese characters, the history of written minority languages, and various
systems of Romanization or transliteration symbols with a cultural value.
Most of their word stock is not computerized, and this will seriously affect
thesurvivalofChinesecultureincyberspace.
Regardingforeignlanguagesandwritingasourlanguageresourceisanew
approach. Although a foreign language is the language of another country, it
cannotberegardedasuselessorhavingnothingtodowithus.Againsttheback-
dropofChina’sopeningupandreformandtheprogressofworldintegration,it
is a necessary quality that the Chinese population is able to use foreign lan-
guages,forthemasteryofaforeignlanguageopensanewmodeofobservation
and expression, and it becomes a new channel through which cultural com-
munication is facilitated. To an individual, a foreign language has become an
important capital to be exploited; to a country, it is a powerful tool to develop
with; and to all of mankind, learning foreign languages creates an important
ForewordtoTheLanguageSituationinChina:EnglishVersion,Vol.2(2008–2009) vii
vehicle by which mutual understanding is possible and,therefore,world peace
andharmonymayberealized.
TheforeignlanguageresourceinChinaisquitepoor.Amongtheover6,000
languagesintheworld,lessthanahundredareintroducedintothiscountryon
acomprehensivescale.Thereareaboutfiftytosixtyforeignlanguagecourseson
offer in schools or universities now, and of the several dozens of foreign lan-
guages spoken here, only approximately ten are frequently used. The foreign
language resource available nowis notfully exploited. Journals and magazines
in foreign languages are rather limited in number.Valuable literature in foreign
languagesisnottranslatedintime,andthetranslationofChineseliteratureinto
a limited number of foreign languages has little influence, partially due to the
poor quality of translation. Foreign languages used in public places await
standardization and improvement. The development of the foreign language
resource is short of a well coordinated long-term plan, lacks an administrative
institution in charge, and has no policy to meet the developmental demand of
the country.The statusplanning of foreign languages needs an overallnational
scheme of foreign language education, application, translation and translation
technology.
2 Derivative language resource
A derivative language resource is formed by the research and processing of
naturallanguages.Itisacombinationoflinguisticknowledgeanditsapplication
indifferentfieldsandinvariousforms,theformerbeingmanifestedinworksof
linguistic research and the latter in such forms as dictionary compilation,
indexing conventions, information retrieval systems, instructional materials,
various standards of language, linguistic corpuses, language knowledge bases,
acomputerizedwordstock,keyboardinputschemes,andsoftwareandplatform
oflanguageprocessing,includingtranslation.
The derivative language resource is renewable,while the natural language
resource is not. There is a positive correlation between the strength of such
renewablepowerandtheleveloflinguisticresearchandtechnologicalprogress.
Before the advent of modern communication technology represented by the
computerandnetworking,derivativelanguageresources were appliedto various
categories of the humanities such as language teaching, lexicography, informa-
tionretrieval,translation,advertising,typetechnology,calligraphy,andlinguistic
code design (Braille, sign language, telegram, semaphore, lamp signal, crypto-
gram, etc.). In the digital era, they often become the standards of industry, the
viii LiYuming(李宇明)
foundationofinformationtechnology,thefundamentalelementsoftheproducts
of information and communications technology, and they are intimately asso-
ciatedwithhigh-endtechnologyandeconomicdevelopment.
China has an abundant natural language resource, a long tradition of
linguistic research, and a rich derivative language resource. In the realm of
information technology,we have a broad and fast-growing market for informa-
tion products, a rudimentary foundation of linguistic computerization, and an
advantage in the application of Chinese characters to computer keyboards and
mobilephonescreens.However,thereareproblemstobefacedsquarelyinthis
field,forexample,theideaofaderivativelanguageresourceisnotyetinshape
and such a resource is not understood from the perspective of “language econ-
omy”. Linguistic research has not obtained the attention it deserves: it is not
foundonthenation’sfirstclasslistofacademicdisciplinesandfewuniversities
have a department or institute of linguistics. Linguistic research does not meet
thedemandofapplication,suchasnaturallanguageprocessing.TheIT-oriented
language standard is seriously lagging behind. There is a difficulty in sharing
fundamental resources like the language database and knowledge base. Little
progresshasbeenmadeindevelopingindependent intellectualpropertyrights.
Research on the particularity of the intellectual property of linguistic informa-
tion technology is insufficient, and intellectual property cannot be protected in
aneffectivemanner.
3 Linguistic competence
Linguistic competence refers mainly to natural language capacity – that of a
native language and that of nonnative languages, including the ability to use
language information products. To the ethnic Han, nonnative languages are
divided into two types: languages of minority ethnicgroups and those of other
nations. China is a big family of multiple nationalities, each of whom should
learn the other’s language(s).The ethnic majoritygroup of Han Chinese, partic-
ularlythosewholiveintheethnicminorityareasandthosewhoareengagedin
ethnological research and nationalities affairs, should be able to use minority
languages. Regarding the Chinese ethnic minority groups, their nonnative lan-
guage competence is constituted by the ability to use Putonghua – the national
lingua franca.On a certain level,the command of Putonghua enables their par-
ticipation in national affairs and wins them greater opportunity for personal
development.
Why is natural language competence regarded as a resource? Firstly, lan-
guage is the most important system of signs used for human communication
ForewordtoTheLanguageSituationinChina:EnglishVersion,Vol.2(2008–2009) ix
and thought. It determines the ability to transmit information and affects the
level of intellectual development to a great extent. Like mathematical com-
petence,linguisticcompetenceisacorecompetenceofhumanbeings.Secondly,
language is an important component and carrier of culture. Its mastery deter-
mines the level of culture and defines the identity of linguistic communities.
And thirdly, a certain linguistic competence guarantees the continuity and
development of the language in question, enables the mutual understanding
andunityofvariousnations,ensurestheintroductionandapplicationofforeign
languages, and harnesses and further creates different derivative language
resources. It is for these reasons that linguistic competence should be regarded
as an important national language resource and as an important indicator of
nationalsoftpower.
Nowadays,we are entering the information era.The learning and applica-
tion of a language is practically inseparable from the products of language
information. The level on which language information products are employed
is immediately associated with the efficiency and quality of language learning
and linguistic proficiency, and thus has turned into a significant element of
linguisticcompetence.
Since linguistic competence is an important language resource, a plan of
training for this competence should be made by specialists with a mastery of
the Chinese language and other ethnic languages within China proper as well
asforeignlanguages,andalsobylinguists specializedincreating anddevelop-
ing derivative language resources. However, what is more fundamental and
significantistoestablishanationallanguagestandard.
A national language standard is the standard of language teaching in the
phase of compulsory education. From the perspective of going from China to
the world and leading the world, the national language standard has four key
points worthy of attention:1) It aims at a step-by-step approach to multilingual
abilities (on the basis of ethnic languages, national language, and foreign lan-
guages) instead of one single language. For example, bilingualism of Chinese
and a minority language or a foreign language should be put into practice
currently in the entire Han monolingual areas,while in the basically bilingual
minority ethnic regions, bilingualism or trilingualism of a native language,
Chinese and/or a foreign language may be practiced. 2) Scientific standards
should be established for all levels of language competence and an attempt
should bemadeto prevent structural linguistic knowledge from beingregarded
asactuallinguisticcompetence.3)Thecultivationofmultiplelanguageabilities
shouldbecompletedinthephaseofcompulsoryeducation,forlanguagelearn-
ing is a privilege of children and it is difficult to learn another language well
after the critical period of 12–14 years of age.4) A standard should also be set
