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The standardization of Chinese

A process run alongside Catalan for a century?
  • Joan Julià-Muné
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The Intricacy of Languages
This chapter is in the book The Intricacy of Languages

Abstract

Modern Standard Chinese, known as Putonghua (or Common Speech), as well as Mandarin in the West, is the official language used by the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the island city-state of Singapore. As a result of the May Fourth Movement of 1919, the bases for a modern Chinese literary language reform were put forward in order to get an up-to-date national language, by substituting the colloquial speech (báihuà) for the classical language (wényán). However, it was under Mao Zedong’s rule when a threefold sociolinguistic reform was implemented in his first decade in power: oral standardization based on Pekingese, character simplification and the adoption of Pinyin. Alongside Chinese, Catalan experienced a language reform under the Institut d’Estudis Catalans’ and Pompeu Fabra’s leadership during the first third of the 20th century.

Abstract

Modern Standard Chinese, known as Putonghua (or Common Speech), as well as Mandarin in the West, is the official language used by the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the island city-state of Singapore. As a result of the May Fourth Movement of 1919, the bases for a modern Chinese literary language reform were put forward in order to get an up-to-date national language, by substituting the colloquial speech (báihuà) for the classical language (wényán). However, it was under Mao Zedong’s rule when a threefold sociolinguistic reform was implemented in his first decade in power: oral standardization based on Pekingese, character simplification and the adoption of Pinyin. Alongside Chinese, Catalan experienced a language reform under the Institut d’Estudis Catalans’ and Pompeu Fabra’s leadership during the first third of the 20th century.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Editorial note ix
  4. Language intricacy 1
  5. Part 1. Theoretical aspects of the intricacy of languages
  6. Language globalization versus inner language diversity? 11
  7. La complexité dans les relations de langues collatérales 23
  8. The persistence of ‘old language’ and the structuring of language communities 47
  9. The lowest common denominator as a factor in the formation of Modern Hebrew phonology 53
  10. Contribuciones de Joan Coromines y Jakob Jud a la dialectología de las lenguas románicas 69
  11. Lingue e culture locali nei processi contemporanei di patrimonializzazione e di costruzione identitaria 81
  12. La linguistica dello sviluppo sociale 99
  13. Part 2. The languages of Europe, among standard and variation
  14. Complexité du continuum dialectal carélo-vepse 137
  15. The lexicon of the Lithuanian language in the 17–19th centuries 153
  16. L’estandardització del gaèlic escocès 175
  17. La construcción del estándar vasco vizcaíno del s. XIX 189
  18. The standardization of Chinese 205
  19. Strategies for conservation of a minority language 227
  20. Per a un tractament integrat de llengües en el context escolar de les parles valencianes de base castellano-aragonesa i murciana 243
  21. Part 3. Tensions and internal diversity in the Catalan language
  22. La variació lectal del català en l’era de la societat xarxa 263
  23. La perspectiva diastràtica en la Gramàtica de la llengua catalana. descriptiva, normativa, diatòpica, diastràtica (1994), d’Antoni M. Badia i Margarit 281
  24. La distribució funcional de variants en la Gramàtica de la llengua catalana. descriptiva, normativa, diatòpica, diastràtica (1994), d’Antoni M. Badia i Margarit 297
  25. Fabra i la segona flexió verbal en català 311
  26. Processos de canvi en les combinacions de clítics pronominals a la Franja 327
  27. Renunciar als trets lingüístics propis 347
  28. La presència del tortosí al Telenotícies comarques Tarragona de TV3 359
  29. “La nostra llengua” i altres circumloquis com a recurs per a evitar el nom de la llengua catalana al País Valencià (1858–1906) 379
  30. Geosinonímia o preferència lèxica 393
  31. El Diccionari normatiu valencià (DNV) de l’Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua 409
  32. Subject index 433
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.20.12jul

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Editorial note ix
  4. Language intricacy 1
  5. Part 1. Theoretical aspects of the intricacy of languages
  6. Language globalization versus inner language diversity? 11
  7. La complexité dans les relations de langues collatérales 23
  8. The persistence of ‘old language’ and the structuring of language communities 47
  9. The lowest common denominator as a factor in the formation of Modern Hebrew phonology 53
  10. Contribuciones de Joan Coromines y Jakob Jud a la dialectología de las lenguas románicas 69
  11. Lingue e culture locali nei processi contemporanei di patrimonializzazione e di costruzione identitaria 81
  12. La linguistica dello sviluppo sociale 99
  13. Part 2. The languages of Europe, among standard and variation
  14. Complexité du continuum dialectal carélo-vepse 137
  15. The lexicon of the Lithuanian language in the 17–19th centuries 153
  16. L’estandardització del gaèlic escocès 175
  17. La construcción del estándar vasco vizcaíno del s. XIX 189
  18. The standardization of Chinese 205
  19. Strategies for conservation of a minority language 227
  20. Per a un tractament integrat de llengües en el context escolar de les parles valencianes de base castellano-aragonesa i murciana 243
  21. Part 3. Tensions and internal diversity in the Catalan language
  22. La variació lectal del català en l’era de la societat xarxa 263
  23. La perspectiva diastràtica en la Gramàtica de la llengua catalana. descriptiva, normativa, diatòpica, diastràtica (1994), d’Antoni M. Badia i Margarit 281
  24. La distribució funcional de variants en la Gramàtica de la llengua catalana. descriptiva, normativa, diatòpica, diastràtica (1994), d’Antoni M. Badia i Margarit 297
  25. Fabra i la segona flexió verbal en català 311
  26. Processos de canvi en les combinacions de clítics pronominals a la Franja 327
  27. Renunciar als trets lingüístics propis 347
  28. La presència del tortosí al Telenotícies comarques Tarragona de TV3 359
  29. “La nostra llengua” i altres circumloquis com a recurs per a evitar el nom de la llengua catalana al País Valencià (1858–1906) 379
  30. Geosinonímia o preferència lèxica 393
  31. El Diccionari normatiu valencià (DNV) de l’Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua 409
  32. Subject index 433
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