modern chinese history and sociolinguistics

This page intentionally left blank Modern Chinese The Chinese language, spoken by over one billion people, has undergone drastic changes over the past century in a way unparalleled at any time previously. This book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the development of Modern Chinese from the late nineteenth century up to the 1990s, concentrating on three major aspects: Modern Spoken Chinese, Modern Written Chinese, and the Modern Chinese writing system. It describes and analyses in detail, from historical and sociolinguistic perspectives, the establishment and promotion of Modern Spoken Chinese and Modern Written Chinese and the reform of the Chinese script. Through an integrated discussion of these three areas of the language it highlights the close interrelationships between them and reveals the interaction of linguistic, historical, and social factors in the development of Modern Chinese. PING CHEN is Senior Lecturer in Chinese Language and Linguistics in the Department of Asian Languages and Studies at the University of Queensland. He has previously taught at UCLA, the University of Oregon, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, and the City University of Hong Kong. He has published widely in the area of Chinese linguistics. Modern Chinese History and Sociolinguistics             The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom    The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org First published in printed format ISBN 0-521-64197-7 hardback ISBN 0-521-64572-7 p a p erback ISBN 0-511-04033-4 eBook Pin g Chen 2004 1999 (netLibrary) © This book is dedicated to the memory of my father,Chen Yujia. Contents List of tables ix Prefacexi Acknowledgementsxiii List of abbreviationsxiv 1Introduction1 Part IModern Spoken Chinese5 2Establishment and promotion of Modern Spoken Chinese7 2.1 Development of Standard Spoken Chinese before the late nineteenth century7 2.2 Establishment and promotion of Modern Standard Chinese from the late nineteenth century until 194913 2.3Promotion of pKtDnghuàafter 194923 2.4 Promotion of Modern Standard Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore30 3Norms and variations of Modern Standard Chinese34 3.1Phonology of Modern Standard Chinese34 3.2Difference between Modern Standard Chinese and the Beijing dialect37 3.3Adulterated pKtDnghuà41 3.4Norms of Modern Standard Chinese outside mainland China46 4The standard and dialects50 4.1Dialects in contact50 4.2 Socio-functional differentiation of Modern Standard Chinese and dialects53 4.3Language policy towards dialects57 4.4Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore60 Part IIModern Written Chinese65 5 Development and promotion of Modern Written Chinese67 5.1Old Written Chinese67 5.2Emergence of early Modern Written Chinese68 5.3Replacement of wényánby báihuàas Standard Written Chinese70 5.4Sources of and avenues of influence upon Modern Written Chinese82 5.5Uses of wényánand báihuàsince the 1940s87 5.6Establishment of Modern Written Chinese and status planning88 6Norms and variations of Modern Written Chinese91 6.1Newly developed grammatical norms in Modern Written Chinese91 6.2 Regional variations in the grammatical norms of Modern Written Chinese97 6.3Newly developed lexical norms in Modern Written Chinese99 vii 6.4Regional variations in the lexical norms of Modern Written Chinese106 6.5 Efforts of corpus planning in the development of Modern Written Chinese109 7Dialect writing114 7.1Single standard written language for dialects114 7.2Causes of the under-development of dialect writing115 7.3Current endeavours in Taiwan toward dialect writing121 7.4Implications of standardization of dialect writing126 Part IIIThe modern Chinese writing system129 8Basic features of the Chinese writing system131 8.1Typological characterization131 8.2Brief history of the Chinese script132 8.3Correlation between script and language136 8.4Merits of the Chinese script139 8.5 Motivation for reform141 8.6 Approaches to script reform146 9Simplification of the traditional writing system148 9.1Approaches to simplification148 9.2Simplification before the twentieth century148 9.3Simplification in the twentieth century150 9.4Gains and problems157 9.5Objections to the Second Scheme159 9.6Simplification of script outside mainland China162 10Phonetization of Chinese164 10.1Efforts by Western missionaries164 10.2Schemes proposed by native Chinese165 10.3Groupings of schemes167 10.4Five representative schemes178 10.5Phonetization in Taiwan and elsewhere189 11Use and reform of the Chinese writing system:present and future191 11.1Recent developments191 11.2Change in policy on script reform196 11.3Prospects of script reform197 12Conclusion202 Notes204 References210 Index222 viii  . Kong, and Singapore30 3Norms and variations of Modern Standard Chinese3 4 3.1Phonology of Modern Standard Chinese3 4 3.2Difference between Modern Standard Chinese and the Beijing dialect37 3.3Adulterated. Chinese, and the Modern Chinese writing system. It describes and analyses in detail, from historical and sociolinguistic perspectives, the establishment and promotion of Modern Spoken Chinese and Modern. pKtDnghuà41 3.4Norms of Modern Standard Chinese outside mainland China46 4The standard and dialects50 4.1Dialects in contact50 4.2 Socio-functional differentiation of Modern Standard Chinese and dialects53 4.3Language