Evolving means of formal language policy on Putonghua and minority languages on the Chinese mainland (1986–2021)

ABSTRACT

This study analyses the evolving means of China’s formal language policy on Putonghua and minority languages from 1986 to 2021. This paper identifies four stages based on the shifting focus between Putonghua and minority languages: status planning of the central government (1986–1990), balance via bilingual policy (1991–2000), strong Putonghua spread at all levels (2001–2011), and Putonghua promotion and minority language preservation (2012–2021). Through descriptive and corpus analysis of a self-constructed language policy database, for each stage, we explore the major means stated in policy documents by analysing keywords to explain policy changes with consideration of social conditions. The results show that China has continuously adjusted its formal language policy according to social changes, and that language planning in this emerging economy has been profoundly influenced by national strategy and government administration.

KEYWORDS:

• Formal language policy
• China
• corpus analysis
• Putonghua
• minority language

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Putonghua is a standardised variety of Mandarin. It was officially defined in the Symposium on the Standardisation of Modern Chinese in 1956. However, many people speak different Mandarin dialects. There are seven main dialect groups and people from different dialect backgrounds cannot communicate in speech.

2 In this study, we followed the official classification of languages to define minority languages. There are 55 official minority ethnic groups in China, 53 of which use their own minority languages.

3 List of Internet sources: Internet source 1: http://www.pkulaw.com; Internet source 2: http://www.moe.gov.cn/s78/A18/; Internet source 3: http://www.moe.gov.cn/s78/A19/

4 Yi and Mongolian are both recognised minority languages in China.

5 The Outline of China’s Medium- and Long-term Language Reform and Development (2012–2020) defined protecting minority languages ‘in a scientific way’ as respecting the freedom of all ethnic groups to use and develop their own languages, viewing all languages as valuable cultural resources and taking targeted measures to protect minority languages.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the Research Funds for Philosophy and Social Sciences of Zhejiang Province [grant number 22ZJQN08YB], the Graduate Education Research Fund of Zhejiang University, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. All views expressed are those of the authors and not of the sponsoring organisations.