Multilingualism in China : the politics of writing reforms for minority languages, 1949-2002 / by Minglang Zhou.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zhou, Minglang, 1954-

Series:

Contributions to the Sociology of Language [CSL]

Contributions to the Sociology of Language [CSL] ; 89

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Linguistic minorities--Government policy--China.

Linguistic minorities.

Multilingualism--China.

Multilingualism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (480 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Minglang Zhou's highly erudite and well-researched volume on the policies concerning writing reforms for China's minorities since 1949 provides an original and well-reasoned summary of a complex process. It documents how different script reforms meet dramatically different fates according to local preferences, history, cross-border ties, and the vitality of previously-used scripts. It convincingly shows that no single variable is decisive in the success of a script, and that language planners' fixation with technical details is doomed to failure, without careful coordination of extra-code factors. It also documents the little-known Sino-Soviet cooperation in the area of writing reforms. In a style accessible to both undergraduate and graduate students, Zhou's book is of interest to language planners, sinologists, applied linguists, writing theorists, and ethnologists.

Contents:

Front matter

Preface

Acknowledgements

Contents

List of tables

Abbreviations and names of minorities in China

Map 1. Distribution of Minority Nationalities and Languages in China

Map 2 China: Autonomous regions and prefectures

Chapter 1. Minorities and minority languages in China

Chapter 2. The politics of minority language policy, 1949-2002

Chapter 3. The politics of the status of writing systems: Official, experimental, or unofficial

Chapter 4. Choices of scripts and theories of writing systems: East vs. West

Chapter 5. The politics of vernacular writing systems

Chapter 6. The politics of traditional and reformed writing systems

Chapter 7. Modernization: The politics and sociolinguistics of Chinese loanwords and minority language orthography

Chapter 8. Conclusion

Notes

References

Subject index

Index of (officially recognized) minority nationalities and minority languages in China

Index of names of influential persons

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [407]-446) and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9783110924596

3110924595

OCLC:

922946686