Abstract：China has abundant language resources, and there are widely divergent Chinese dialects and dialect speakers of different proficiency levels across the whole country. Currently, however, Chinese dialects are experiencing a severe crisis in their sustainable existence. This paper first makes a brief review of the development of China’s language policy since 1949, and then analyzes the declining uses of dialects in cities since the reform and opening up. It points out that the decrease of intra-generational inheritance, reduced use in family and private domains, and the shrinking of major public functional domains for dialect use are prominent issues confronted by dialects in China. This paper contends that in order to preserve the dialect resources and taper off the shrink of dialects, some differential national language policies should be made and implemented. In some rural poverty regions the role of Putonghua (standard Chinese) in poverty alleviation practice needs to be reinforced, while in most urban areas the preservation of living dialects should be prioritized. Some language policies or practices that discourage dialect conservation should be adjusted or abolished. A number of concrete strategies are proposed in conclusion in order to help the authorities and policymakers to construct a healthy and orderly multilingual society in China.
刘丹青. 语言资源保护与差异化语文政策[J]. 语言战略研究, 2019, 4(3): 29-37.
Liu Danqing. Language Resource Preservation and Differential National Language Policy. , 2019, 4(3): 29-37.
