Topic 4

1. Topic 4 What is a language?

2. Since ancient history, the Chinese language has always consisted of a wide variety of dialects, hence prestige dialects and lingua franca have always been needed. In early 17th century, efforts were made to standardise the pronunciation, but the success was limited. In early 20th century, the Beijing dialect was voted for the general foundation of the new national language. It became the major source of standard national pronunciation. It is now the official language of mainland China. However in Hong Kong, due to historical and linguistic reasons, the language of education and both formal and informal speech remains the local Standard Cantonese, but standard Putonghua is becoming increasingly influential.

3. Since ancient history, the Chinese language has always consisted of a wide variety of dialects, hence prestige dialects and lingua franca have always been needed. In early 17th century, efforts were made to standardise the pronunciation, but the success was limited. In early 20th century, the Beijing dialect was voted for the general foundation of the new national language. It became the major source of standard national pronunciation. It is now the official language of mainland China. However in Hong Kong, due to historical and linguistic reasons, the language of education and both formal and informal speech remains the local standard Cantonese, but standard Putonghua is becoming increasingly influential.

4. Topics • Language, dialect and accent; • Standard languages & standardisation; • Official languages; • Vernacular languages; • Lingua francas; • Implications for education.

5. Languages and dialects • Cantonese/Shanghainese/Putonghua • Norwegian/Danish • Max Weinreich: “a language is a dialect with an army and a navy” • Language/dialect distinction is political/sociological as much as linguistic • E.g. 1 Formal Yugoslavia: Serbo-Croatian Croatia: Croatian Yugoslavia: Serbian • E.g. 2 China: langages => dialects

6. Languages and dialects • A language is a collection of dialects. • A dialect is a particular variety of a language that differs noticeably from the variety or varieties of the same language spoken by another group or groups of people.

7. Dialects and accents • Dialectsare variations in pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar • Accents are variations in pronunciation only • A final note on accent. WE ALL HAVE ONE! There is no such thing as a person who speaks without an accent. This is not an exercise in political correctness, by the way. It is a fact.

8. A dialect continuum D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 D1 D2 D3

9. Standard languages & standardisation • Standard language or standard dialect? • Why have a “standard” language? • What leads to standardisation of language use in a community? • Prestige, • Codification • High functions • Characteristics of the development of a standard language • Accepted written variety (e.g. spelling) • Development of accepted vocabulary

10. Standard vs vernacular languages • Languages evolve to meet communicative need. Any language can perform any communicative function; • No language (or dialect or accent) is “superior” to any other (but all varieties are inappropriate at times); • Emergence of a standard variety is a historical accident. • What is standard is dictated by attitudes in the society towards particular groups of people who speak in particular ways.

11. The right view • Languages have various dialects. • What is considered standard is associated with prestige, a non-linguistic factor. • From a linguistic standpoint, what is considered standard has nothing to do with correctness or superiority. • From a linguistic standpoint, all dialects are equally correct, equally expressive, equally logical and so forth. That is, the term non-standard dialect means just that, not the standard dialect. It does not mean inferior or sub-standard.

12. Standard : unchanging?? • RP ; the Queen’s English; BBC English • English: multiple negation; misuse of pronouns • E.g. John and me went bowling last Friday night. Mary gave the books to John and I. • Words have disappeared in Standard Mandarin

13. What is standard is not a matter of “better’ from a linguistic point of view. What is standard is dictated by attitudes in the society towards particular groups of people who speak in particular ways.

14. National and official languages • The Affective-referential dimension/ The ideological-instrumental dimension • A national language is the language of a political, cultural and social unit. • An official language is a language for government business.

15. Establishing an official national language in Mainland China 17th century • Orthoepy Academies (Zhengyin Shuyuan): to make pronunciation conform to the Beijing standard 1913 • Commission on the Unification of pronunciation: Beijing dialect became the major source of standard national pronunciation. It was voted for the general foundation of the new national language `guoyu” (national speech). It is also the official language of Mainland China

16. 1955 • standard mandarin was renamed putonghua or “common speech”. It became the medium of instruction in all schools nationwide.

17. Official languages • 201 living languages listed for China. • 1 National or official language: Mandarin Chinese. 1,262,358,000 (UN, 1998). • 55 official minority nationalities; total 91,200,314 or 6.5% of the population (1990). • www.ethnologue.com

18. Other official languages • Hong Kong: Chinese, English • UK: ?? • US: ?? • UN: ?? • Official vs. national languages

19. Vernacular languages • Typically NOT standardised; • Typically used at home; • Typically functionally restricted (Low functions): the home, friends, sometimes initial literacy; • Typically the first language someone learns; • Typically contrasted with an official or High language in that society; ”.

20. Lingua francas • Used for pragmatic reasons, e.g. trade; • May be an official or vernacular language of some speakers; • May become an official or national language, e.g. Swahili; • Putonghua as a lingua franca?

21. Implications for education • The Basic Law has very little to say about language policy (Yau, 1992), but what it does say retains ambiguity: “In addition to Chinese language, the English language may also be used…”

22. Implications for education • What language varieties should we teach? • Valuing minority varieties • Teaching standardised/official varieties • Language is a highly political issue. Great care is needed, based on understanding, when discussing language in society • E.g. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/home.htm

23. Implications for education • Cantonese should not treated or regarded as an obstruction in the pathway of PTH; • School children should be taught that in the process of learning PTH they need not give up or forget their home dialects and languages; • Teachers should emphasize to their students that knowing two or more varieties of Chinese (and other languages) is an invaluable asset that will pay dividends throughout the speaker’s life.

24. Terminology: • Dialect, accent; • Standard language, official language, national language; • Vernacular; • Lingua franca. • Note how the same word can have different – but related – meanings. You need to be careful of your own use of words.