Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-21T18:40:05.176Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Heritage Languages in China

from Part I - Heritage Languages around the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2021

By
Linda Tsung  and
Lubei Zhang
Edited by
Silvina Montrul  and
Maria Polinsky
Silvina Montrul
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Maria Polinsky
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
Get access

Summary

China is one of the most multilingual countries in the world. The government of the People’s Republic of China promotes the country as a harmonious and unified nation with 56 distinct ethnic groups who speak more than 400 heritage languages. The government has not only legally recognized multilingualism but also publicly encouraged a climate where the teaching and learning of a variety of heritage languages can flourish. This chapter provides insights into our understanding of Chinese language policy and implementation and heritage language maintenance and is based on empirical research and case studies in China’s multilingual regions and provinces. It examines the application of the Chinese government’s language policy and heritage language practices over the last 30 years with its underlying language ideology and practices, revealing de facto language policies. While modern standard Chinese (Putonghua) continues to be a powerful factor in both consolidating and probing educational, cultural, social, and political discourse as well as the spatial environment, Xi Jinping’s recent “One Belt and One Road” project has created a new linguistic environment, which has affected the use of heritage languages within diverse minority groups. This has accelerated the deep concern shared among those advocating heritage language maintenance in China.

Keywords

heritage languageminority languageethnic groupsPutonghualanguage maintenancespecial environmentlanguage vitalityendangered languageslanguage family
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Heritage Languages and Linguistics , pp. 91 - 110
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bai, L. 2007. Minzu Tushu de Chunban Wenti ji Yingdui Celue [Problems and Solutions for the Publication of Minority Books]. Journal of Minzu University of China 2, 140.Google Scholar
Bai, R. 2012. Woguo Shaoshu Minzu Yuyan Guangbo de Lishi Yange, diwei yu Zuoyong [History, Status and Functions of Minority Language Broadcasting in China]. Retrieved on February 22, 2020 from http://media.people.com.cn/n/2012/0926/c349714–19118659.htmlGoogle Scholar
Bai, R. 2018. Zhongguo Shaoshu Minzu Wenzi Baokan de Bainian Huiwang [One Hundred Years Introspection on China’s Minority Language Newspaper]. Retrieved on March 15, 2020 from http://media.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0806/c420824-30212149.htmlGoogle Scholar
Baker, C. and Jones, S. P.. 1998. Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Bloomfeld, L. 1967. Language. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Bradley, D. 2001. Language Policy for the Yi. In Harrell, S. (ed.), Perspectives on the Yi of Southwest China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 194–198.Google Scholar
Bradley, D. 2005. Sanie and Language Loss in China. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 173, 159–176.Google Scholar
Corson, D. 1999. Community-Based Education for Indigenous Cultures. In May, S. (ed.), Indigenous Community-Based Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 8–19.Google Scholar
Crystal, D. 1987. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dai, Q. 1994. Yuyan he Minzu [Language and Ethnicity]. Beijing: Zhongyang Minzu Daxue Chubanshe (The Central University for Nationalities Press).Google Scholar
Fishman, J. 2001. 300-Plus Years of Heritage Language Education in the United States. In Peyton, J. K., Ranard, D. A., and McGinnis, S. (eds.), Heritage Languages in America: Preserving a National Resource. Washington, DC and McHenry, IL: Center for Applied Linguistics & Delta Systems, 81–89.Google Scholar
García, O. 2014. U.S. Spanish and Education: Global and Local Intersections. Language Policy, Politics, and Diversity in Education: Review of Research in Education 38(1), 58–80.Google Scholar
Hornberger, N. H. 2005. Opening and Filling Up Implementational and Ideological Spaces in Heritage Language Education. Modern Language Journal 89, 605–612.Google Scholar
Internet Society of China. 2016. Zhongguo Hulianwang Fazhan Zhuangkuang jiqi Anquan Baogao [Report on the Development Status and Safety of Websites in China]. Retrieved on March 15, 2020 from www.isc.org.cn/zxzx/ywsd/listinfo-33676.htmlGoogle Scholar
Li, Y. 2018. Languages Pave the Road for the Belt and Road Project, Guangming Newspaper, August 12, 2018.Google Scholar
Luo, J. and Yu, J.. 2015. Protections of The Living Minority Languages and Bilingual Harmonious Town Construction: A Case Study of Dulong Village, Maguan County, Yunnan. China Social Sciences.Google Scholar
Ma, X. 1954. Zhongguo Shaoshu Minzu Yuyan [Minority Languages of China], Zhongguo Jianshe [China Reconstructs], 37–41.Google Scholar
Modood, T. and May, S.. 2001. Multiculturalism and Education in Britain: An Internally Contested Debate. International Journal of Educational Research 35, 305–317.Google Scholar
Moseley, Christopher (ed.) 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd ed. Paris: UNESCO Publishing. Online version: www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlasGoogle Scholar
Ramsey, R. S. 1987. Languages of China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
State Language Commission. 1995. Yuyan Wenzi Gongzuo Baiti (100 Questions in Language Orthography Work). Beijing: Yuwen Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Sude, B., Yuan, M., Chen, Z., and Zhang, J.. 2017. Neimenggu shuangyu jiaoyu fazhan xianzhuang, wenti yu jianyi [Bilingual Education in Inner Mongolia: Development, Problems and Suggestion]. Zhongguo Minzu Jiaoyu Fazhan Baogao [Report on Minority Education in China]. Retrieved on March 3, 2020 from www.pishu.com.cn/skwx_ps/initDatabaseDetail?contentId=9413507&siteId=14&contentType=literatureGoogle Scholar
Sun, H. 2001. Guanyu Binwei Yuyan Wenti [Concerning the Problem of Endangered Languages]. Yuyan Jiaoxue yu Yanjiu [Language Education and Research] 1, 1–7.Google Scholar
The State Council Information Office of People’s Republic of China. 1999. Zhongguo de Shaoshu Minzu Zhengce jiqi Shijian [China’s Minority Policy and Its Practice]. Retrieved on March 3, 2020 from www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/ndhf/1999/Document/307953/307953.htmGoogle Scholar
Tsung, L., Wang, G. and Zhang, Q.. 2012. Bilingual Education in China: The Case of Yunnan. In Beckett, G. H. and Postiglione, G. A. (eds.), China’s Assimilationist Language Policy: The Impact on Indigenous/Minority Literacy and Social Harmony, Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge imprint of Taylor & Francis, 105–120.Google Scholar
Tsung, L. 2014. Language Power and Hierarchy: Multilingual Education in China. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.Google Scholar
Wiley, T. G. 2001. On Defining Heritage Languages and Their Speakers. In Peyton, J. K., Ranard, D. A., and McGinnis, S. (eds.), Heritage Languages in America: Preserving a National Resource. Washington, DC and McHenry, IL: Center for Applied Linguistics & Delta Systems, 29–36.Google Scholar
Wu, Z. and Wen, J.. 2006. The Studies of the Endangered Languages during the Recent 20 Years in China, Zhangjiang Xueshu, 3.Google Scholar
Xu, X. 2012. Bilingual Education of the Effect of Protection for Minority Languages. The Journal of Yuxi Teachers University, 5.Google Scholar
Xuan, W. 1989. Woguo Chaoxianzu Shuangyu Shiyong Qingkuang Qianxi [Analysis of Bilingualism of China’s Korean]. Minzu Yuwen [Ethnic Language] 5, 45–48.Google Scholar
Yan, H. and Guo, J.. 2004. Woguo Minzu Wenzi Tushu de Chuban Zhuangkuang jiqi Shoucang Fenxi [Analysis of the Publication and Collecting of Ethnic Minority Language Books in China]. Tushuguan kan [Journal of Library] 2, 41.Google Scholar
Yang, J. 2005. English as a Third Language among China’s Ethnic Minorities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 8(6), 552–567.Google Scholar
Yeung, Y. S., Marsh, H. W., and Suliman, R.. 2000. Can Two Tongues Live in Harmony: Analysis of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS88) Longitudinal Data on the Maintenance of Home Language. American Educational Research Journal 37(4), 1001–1026.Google Scholar
Zhang, J., Liang, M., Ouyang, J., Zheng, Y., Li, X., and Xie, J.. 1999. Zhuangyu Fangyan Yanjiu [Zhuang Dialect Research]. Zhongguo Shaoshu Minzu Yuyan Fangyan Yanjiu Congshu [Chinese Minority Language Dialect Research Series]. Chengdu: Sichuan Ethnic Publishing House.Google Scholar
Zhang, L. and Tsung, L. 2019a. Bilingual Education and Minority Language Maintenance in China: The Role of Schools in Saving the Yi Language. Switzerland: Springer.Google Scholar
Zhang, L. and Tsung, L. 2019b. Tibetan Bilingual Education in Qinghai: Government Policy vs Family Language Practice. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 22(3), 290–302.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y. 2009. “Gongyixing Dingwei” Cu Minwen Chuban Kuaishu Fazhan [Public Welfare Orientation for the Fast Development of Minority Language Publication]. Zhongguo Xinwen Chuban Bao [China’s News Publication Newspaper].Google Scholar
Zhao, L. 2016. Shaoshu Minzu Yuyan Meiti de Fazhan yu Huoli: Falü yu Zhengce de shijiao [Development and Vitality of Minority Language Media: From the Perspective of Law and Policy]. Zhongguo Guangbo Dianshi Xuekan [China Radio and TV Academic Journal] 10, 66–68.Google Scholar
Zheng, X. 1999. Zhongguo Chaoxian Renkou Liudong de Zhongda Yingxiang ji Duice [The Great Impact of Population Mobility of Koreans in China and the Countermeasures]. Journal of Yanbiao University 3, 69.Google Scholar
Zhou, Q. 2015. Yuyan Shenghuo yu Yuyan Zhengce: Zhongguo Shaoshu Minzu Yanjiu [Language Life and Language Policy: Studies on China’s Ethnic Minorities]. Beijing: Social Science Publishing House.Google Scholar
Zuo, X. 2007. China’s Policy towards Minority Languages in a Globalising Age. Transnational Curriculum Inquiry 4 (1), http://nitinat.library.ubc.ca/ojs/index.php/tciGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×