Ch15-2 Language Policy of the Han Sphere

From

A Chinese-character-based Cultural Circle 漢字文化圈

授課老師：蘇以文I-wen Su

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The Han sphere

All adopting Kanji and classical Han writing as the official written language before the 20th century• Vietnam

• Korea

• Japan

• Taiwan

• China Chiung, Wi-vun T. (2007) “Language, Literacy, and Nationalism: Taiwan's Orthographic transition from the perspective of Han Sphere.”

changes

Vietnam:

• Chu Nom (derivative of Han characters) was adopted in the 20th as official, replacing the romanized Chu Quoc Ngu (established1945)

Korea:

• Han characters replaced by phonemic system Hangul after World War II

Japan:

• Han characters decreased from thousands to 1945 frequently used ones by 1981

Chiung, Wi-vun T. (2007) “Language, Literacy, and Nationalism: Taiwan's Orthographic transition from the perspective of Han Sphere.”

Orthographic reform

Internal factors: • general public’s demand for literacy

• anti-feudal hierarchy

External factors:• Political relationships between these

countries

• The origin of Han characters

Native language (including writing system) & national identity

Pros- Vietnam & Korea Cons- Ireland and US

National identity: A Western View

‘nation-state’ – a concept formed by Publication Religious reform Mother tongue

(Anderson 1991) E.g. Renaissance: national literature

Anderson, Benedict.(1991) Imagined Communities. New York: Verso.

Imagined communities

Benedict Anderson (1991) An imagined Hanji cultural community

prompts the construction of nation-state in Chinese character-based circle

Anderson, Benedict.(1991) Imagined Communities. New York: Verso.

Sense of Community via the Chinese/Han characters 漢字共同體 An imagined Hanji cultural community 中華民族 the Chinese people 中國國族 the China people Excluding minorities like Zhuang, Miao,

Yao

Non-imagined Hanji cultural community

Unique language Unique writing system Vietnam, Korea, Japan

Linguistic vs. political

Writing system ╪ national identity Language vs. dialect Mutually intelligible (Crystal 1997),

• Swedish/Norwegian/DanishCrystal, D.(1997) The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. 2nd edition.

Diglossia & digraphia

Diglossia> (spoken) language digraphia> writing system (written lang)

diglossia

Charles Ferguson (1959): • Two varieties of the same language, carrying

with each different social functions

• High language vs. low language

• Formal & literary vs. informal & colloquial

Joshua Fishman (1967)• Not necessarily of the same language

• Not necessarily limited to 2 languages

Ferguson, Charles A.(1959) 'Diglossia',

Fishman, Joshua.(1967) Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without bilingualism.

digraphia

Dale (1980) Extending Ferguson’s idea of diglossia to

the writing system De Francis (1984): same as Dale Chiung Wi-vun (2003)

• More than one writing systems in one society, each with different communicative functions

Dale, I.R.H. (1980) “Digraphia”.

DeFrancis, John. (1984) Digraphia.

Chiung, Wi-vun T.(2003) Learning Efficiencies for Different Orthographies: A Comparative Study of Han Characters and Vietnamese Romanization.

How about the Han circle?

Spoken• Literary (wenyan) vs. colloquial (baihua)

• High language (emperor; puppet heroes)

• Low language (commoner; clown)

Written• High lang (writing in Han characters)

• Low lang (Chu-Nam of Vietnam; Kana of Japan)

High vs. Low

Status may change • Political

• Linguistic structures of the writing systems

Kana (Japan) > high Romanization (Vietnam) > high Zhuang/miao/yao > still low

1st vs. 2nd languages

1st lg = fluent lg? Personal mother tongue vs. ethnic

language/national language Usually, one’s mother tongue = one’s

ethnic/national lang, with the exception • Immigration

• Studying abroad

• colonialism

Divergence and shift of the mother tongue

Divergence 異化 Language shift 語言轉換 More and more divergence will lead to

language shift• Ireland: Irish as national language & English

as the official language, though English is used

• Taiwan 平埔 ? > vernacular shift

Language and national identity

Determined by its social context (Fishman 1999)

There exists no causal relationship between the two

Linguistic functions can be • Strengthened: taking advantage of it

• Weakened: not taking advantage of it

Fishman, Joshua. (ed.) (1999) Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity.

indigenization

Change from immigrant society into native society

Aboriginal tribes in Taiwan Han people has become indigenized

1683-1895 Indigenization is the foundation of

Taiwan languages, Taiwan lit and Taiwan (national) people

Copyright Declaration

Work Licensing Author/Source

p.2, 3

Chiung, Wi-vun T. (2007) “Language, Literacy, and Nationalism: Taiwan's Orthographic transition from the perspective of Han Sphere.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 28(2), 102-116.and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW

p.6, 7

Anderson, Benedict.(1991) Imagined Communities. New York: Verso.and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW

p.10

Crystal, D.(1997) The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press.and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW

Copyright Declaration

Work Licensing Author/Source

p.12Ferguson, Charles A.(1959) 'Diglossia', Word 15:325-340.and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW

p.12

Fishman, Joshua.(1967) Bilingualism with and without diglossia; diglossia with and without bilingualism. Journal of Social Issues 32(2), 29-38.and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW

p.13

Dale, I.R.H. (1980) “Digraphia”. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 26, 5–13 and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW

Copyright Declaration

Work Licensing Author/Source

p.13DeFrancis, John. (1984) Digraphia. Word 35 (1), 59-66.and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW

p.13

Chiung, Wi-vun T.(2003) Learning Efficiencies for Different Orthographies: A Comparative Study of Han Characters and Vietnamese Romanization. PhD dissertation: Univ. of Texas at Arlington.and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW

p.18

Fishman, Joshua. (ed.) (1999) Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.and used subject to the fair use doctrine of the Taiwan Copyright Act Article 50 by NTU OCW