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北京大学英语新闻网/Peking University News
dialects are the inexhaustible source for Putonghua. During the past twenty years,
many words from dialects have been absorbed by Putonghua. Actually dialects are
also full of vitality. Just like the grasses over the plain, ―Wildfire never quite
consumes them .They are born once more in the spring breeze.‖
The development and change of language is a normal phenomenon, and it is
irreversible that some dialects would fade out. What we should do now is to record
the changes of dialects, esp. those of the endangered ones. An archaeological
survey has been conducted in China recently. As intangible cultural heritage, the
languages of China call for an urgent survey, too. We should record them with
modern technology like pen recorder, multimedia and disc, etc. and build a bank of
the languages of all our ethnic groups and dialects, and thus leave a precious wealth
for our posterity. We should appeal for a ―language survey of China‖ in the new
century.
China Reading Daily: What are the differences and similarities between the issue of
minority languages and the dialects?
Li Yuming: Both of them are developing and changing. Some minority languages are
endangered ones now. However, dialects and minority languages are actually two
phenomena at different levels. Dialects of Chinese are regional variants of Chinese,
while minority language, small its application area might be, is equal to Chinese in
the sense of languages; it is an independent language rather than its branch. Since
China is a multi-ethnic country, the minority languages should be duly respected.
The issue concerning the minority languages is very complicated. They are at
different development stage, some of which have only spoken languages but no
written characters, while some others boast of a great deal of cultural documents and
are used by a large population. Therefore, we should deal with the issue of minority
languages according to the wishes of the people of minority groups and in a
reasonable way. Several points of minority language protection that merit our special
attention are: first, urgent measures should be taken to record minority languages
and build a data base of minority languages. This is similar to building a gene bank of
the languages and culture of China. Second, great efforts should be made to
promote bilingual education. Students of minority ethnic groups should master
Putonghua as well as their native language. Failing to master their native language,
they will lose their root of nationality. Without a good mastery of Putonghua, it will be
difficult for their travel around the country and their participation in the state
governance. Third, the language right and language choice of minority groups should
be respected. We should conduct joint research on issue of minority languages with
compatriots of minority groups, provide them all-round support and refrain from
forcing our ideas on them.
China has a sound policy of minority language protection, which is safeguarded by
the law. Apart from the Constitution, the Law on Regional Autonomy by Ethnic
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