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2017 Vol. 2, No. 4
Published: 2017-07-10

 
1 Language Protection Course in China Requires Participation from the Whole Population
Hou Jingyi
2017 Vol. 2 (4): 1-1 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
5 Language and Language Use from the Anthropological Perspective#br#
Zhou Xing; Zhou Yongming; Zhao Xudong; Lai Lili
Travel between Dialects and Putonghua / Zhou Xing
Gender, Culture and Language / Zhou Yongming
The Cultural Features of Language: Transformation, Diversity and Anthropological Perspective / Zhao Xudong
Language as Materialistic Existence / Lai Lili
2017 Vol. 2 (4): 5-10 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  PDF  (0 KB)  ( 0 )
11 Major Issues about Project for the Protection of Language Resources of China
Cao Zhiyun
China has recently embarked upon a large project of language preservation with ambitious goals, which is featured with broad participation and political sensitivity; it thus has attracted a great deal of public attention. The research team also has encountered various diffi culties and challenges during the project implementation. However, in general, given the positive feedback we have received from the public, the project framework has been proven feasible and it has been progressing well so far. Particularly, given its forward planning nature, the Project spearheads the language conservation due to the following three treats: it is government guided, formulating an array of standards and criterions, and characteristic of application of advanced technology. This paper endeavors to answer the major concerns from the public about the Project and its implementation, in the mean time, to present the new concept we proposed as ‘Multiple-Languages-Respective-Domains’, the core nature of which is to construct a hierarchical relationships between layers of languages and regional variants within a multilingual community. Such a framework enables the harmonious co-existence among lingua franca, regional languages and local dialects with each functioning within respective domains, achieving diversity in unity.
2017 Vol. 2 (4): 11-16 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
17 The Changes of Anong Language over the Past Two Decades: From Endangered to Severely Endangered
Sun Hongkai
Since the 1960s, we have launched a longitudinal study on the Anong language, spoken by a branch of the Nu ethnic group in Lisu Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province. As researchers, we have witnessed its whole declining process. This study can serve as an exemplary case, demonstrating the forlorn hope of some endangered ethnic languages in China. Through analyzing its declining details, we not only have a good general understanding of the linguistic and social causes accounting for the changes, but also have seen the structural changes of the language in the process. In this study, we focus on the development occurred to both social milieu and linguistic structures, as well as the changes in native speakers’ attitudes towards their mother tongue. The combination of the precious study and the current analysis enables us to obtain an overall picture of the declining process from historical perspective. Based on our observation for over half a century, we conclude that the decline of the Anong language has come to a critical point, and without modus operandi of effective language maintenance, the lanuage is bound to lose its communicative function completely in one or two decades and become a dead language.
2017 Vol. 2 (4): 17-24 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
25 The Decline of Chinese Dialects and Strategies for their Preservation
Li Rulong

This article inquires into the decline of Chinese dialects in the context of promulgation of Putonghua, and proposes some strategies to preserve the dialects. Two remarkable tendencies can be observed in the declining Chinese dialects: the erosion of dialectal idiosyncracies and attenuation of communicative functions. On the one hand, many dialects are dropping their distinctive phonological, lexical and syntactic features, and assimilating into the Mandarin system. On the other hand, the use of dialects in communication is diminishing even for dialect speakers. It is found that the declining patterns vary among different regional dialects. Those dialects along the Yangtze, such as the Wu, Xiang and Gan dialects show more shifts in structure, while those farther away from the Yangtze, such as the Min, Yue and Gan dialects, feature more decline in functional use. In order to save the dialects from further declining, this paper proposes that the values of Chinese dialects need to be appreciated, and the dialects can be incorporated into the Chinese language teaching materials across the nation. In addition, the mass media, social and cultural sectors as well as families can play their distinctive roles in the preservation and transmission of dialects.

2017 Vol. 2 (4): 25-31 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
32 On Some Concepts in the Investigation of Chinese Dialects and Culture
Xing Xiangdong
Project for the Protection of Language Resources of China includes three important components: investigation into major regional dialects, endangered language protection, and language and cultural survey. Based on the requirement of content in Chinese language and culture protection and the general principles of dialect and folklore investigation, this paper elaborates on a number of principles that one should adhere to when studying dialect and culture research and in implementing the Project for the Protection of Language Resources of China. They are: project view, systematic view, cultural view, view of pursuance in truth. Systematic view emphasizes the organic associations between vocabulary pronunciation and its meaning, the word and object being represented, and different folk-customs during research. Cultural view attaches the importance to exploring and revealing the cultural implications refl ected in dialectal words and local customs. Pursuance in truth concerns the need to record, to preserve, and to display the authentic attributes of local dialect and folklore. It is the author’s hope that this article provides some guidance, derived from hand-on experience, for language protection professionals in project implementation.
2017 Vol. 2 (4): 32-38 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
39 null
Ghil‘ad Zuckermann and Chen Yan
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This study is an attempt to explore the impacts of language revival on the mental health of Indigenous Australians through literature review and case study. On the basis of a delineation of how language, a sense of identity and mental health are interrelated, the study, with a focus on Barngarla reclamation, integrates the data from various reports of Australian institutions and the findings about minority groups in the U. S. and Canada, and demonstrates that language revival may enhance the mental health of minority groups like the Barngarla people through improving their self-confi dence, helping them develop resilience, and improving their sense of identity, sense of purpose and wellbeing. However, for a systematic assessment of the benefits of language reclamation to mental health, revivalists need to cooperate with mental health research professionals so as to identify, review, and (when required) adapt existing quantitative methods and tools. In addition, we contend that, in the evaluation of language reclamation activities, the revival process is as important as the revival goals.

2017 Vol. 2 (4): 39-49 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
50 International Endangered-Language Protection Projects: Effect, Features and Implications
Yuan Dan and Zhan Fangqiong

This paper introduces eight international endangered-language protection projects being carried out in Europe and America, and explains their objectives, progress and achievements. It is shown that these projects share three common characteristics: goal orientation, scientifi c methods, and a lack of standardization. Among them, goal orientation plays an important role in the management and operation of the international endangered-language protection projects. This strategy serves to clarify the missions of the projects, and eventually makes the implementation more transparent and well-targeted. Scientific methods refer to the documentation, preservation,maintenance and revitalization of endangered languages in scientific ways. However, the lack of standardization results in the inconsistency of language materials and formats in some projects. This paper makes four suggestions for the Project for the Protection of Language Resources of China, including the establishment of language resource website, assessment of the ethnolinguistic vitality of minority languages and dialects in China, activation of collective wisdom, and emphasis on standardization planning.

2017 Vol. 2 (4): 50-60 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
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Chen Ping
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2017 Vol. 2 (4): 61-70 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
71 Possibility and Necessity of Establishing “Global Chinese Linguistics”
Diao Yanbin
This paper analyzes the possibility and necessity of establishing Global Chinese Linguistics as an academic discipline. The possibility of this endeavor derives from two  aspects. On the one hand, the scientifi c study of language phenomena in a specific field is conventionally named as linguistics preceded by a modifi er, e.g. Chinese linguistics as  the study of Chinese language. Therefore, the study of global Chinese named as Global Chinese Linguistics would be a natural naming practice. On the other hand, the research in Global  Chinese so far has built up a solid foundation for the framing of a new discipline. The necessity of establishing Global Chinese Linguistics mainly lies in the top layer planning of  global Chinese language research. It is argued that the formulation of Global Chinese Linguistics will help to expand the research scope, strengthen the research capacity, and conduct  in-depth relevant studies, which will in turn be conducive to the theoretical construction in this field.
2017 Vol. 2 (4): 71-80 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
81 Expert Views on the Greater Chinese (Dahuayu)
Lu Deping et al.
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2017 Vol. 2 (4): 81-87 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
88 Reflection on the Accomplishments in Language Education Policy Study over Three Decades: Review of Language Policy in Education in the Series of Language Policy and Planning
Lin Xiao
This volume presents the main achievements in the language education policy research (1984-2012) in the West and the scope and characteristics of the works included in it have reflected its interdisciplinary nature, encompassing various traditions in linguistics, education, anthropology, sociology, etc. The articles and chapters in this volume provide a wide range of perspectives on how the language practices in formal and informal educational contexts are infl uenced by various factors and how this research paradigm reconstructs the field of language-in-education policy. The topics covered include: mother tongue education, bilingual education, school language policy, teachers’ role, language testing, education’s role in language maintenance and revitalization, relationship between language education and development, family language policy, etc. The discussions in this volume show that the academics generally recognize the language-in-education policy as a multifaceted phenomenon and process, focusing on the macro language policy’s impact on classrooms and communities, the development of local language policy at the institutional establishments, community and family contexts and the interaction between these two dimensions. Researchers usually adopt the ethnographic approaches to examine the language practices and reach a deep understanding, which is also refl ective and critical, with an aim to obtain a better understanding of the significance of language education policy research in explaining and guiding language education practices. However, it is found the researchers have yet to explore the basis for a broader meta-theoretical framework to understand the interrelationship between macro and micro policy and practice within language-in-education policy. The implication for language education policy researchers in China is to focus their research on the language practices in educational institutes in China and base their theoretical thinking on solid empirical facts, thus provide localized resolution for the further development of language-in-education policy researches.
2017 Vol. 2 (4): 88-96 [Abstract] ( 0 ) HTML (1 KB)  [PDF (0 KB)  ( 0 )
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