Standardization of Minority Languages

doi:10.1017/9781108559249.007

6 - Standardization of Minority Languages

Nation-State Building and Globalization

from Part I - Revisiting Models and Theories of Language Standardization

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2021

Minglang Zhou

Edited by

Wendy Ayres-Bennett and

John Bellamy

Show author details

Wendy Ayres-Bennett: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
John Bellamy: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

Book contents

Get access

Summary

The standardization of minority languages has little room in language policy and language planning because models of nation-state building are generally not designed to accommodate minority languages, while standardized minority languages often lead to challenges for the state. This chapter reviews how various ideologies, such as nationalism, nationism and patriotism, interact with nation-state building and globalization in shaping approaches to the standardization of minority languages. As a case study, it examines how China, adopting the Soviet model of multinational state building, technically standardized minority languages in a two-track multilingual system where standardized Chinese functioned as the main track and standardized minority languages functioned as the satellites of an eventual linguistic integration. Since the failure of this model in the 1990s, globalization has created opportunities in China through transnational institutions, such as UNESCO and ISO, and technical revolutions, such as the Internet, for bottom-up efforts at the standardization of minority languages. The case shows a trajectory from the state monopoly of the agency of standardization to the diversity of the agency among the state, local communities and the global community. This development appears to be the future of the standardization of minority languages in multilingual nation-states in an age of globalization.

Keywords

nation-state building globalization base dialect standard pronunciation script graphization international code cyberspace

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Language Standardization , pp. 170 - 198

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108559249.007 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Allerton, D. J. (1982). Orthography and dialect: how can different regional pronunciations be accommodated in a single orthography? In Hass, W., ed., Standard Languages: Spoken and Written. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 57–69.Google Scholar

Anderson, J. & O’Dowd, L. (1999). Borders, border regions and territoriality: contradictory meanings, changing significance. Regional Studies, 33(7), 593–604.Google Scholar

Armstrong, N. & Mackenzie, I. E. (2013). Standardization, Ideology and Linguistics. London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar

Bellamy, R. (2008). Citizenship: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRef Google Scholar

China (1955). Quanguo wenzi gaige huiyi wenjian huibian [Collection of Documents from the National Script Reform Conference]. Beijing: Huiyi mishu chu [Secretariat of the Conference].China (1956). Hanzu de gongtong yu he biaozhun yin [The Common Language and Standard Pronunciation of the Han Chinese]. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju [China Press].China (1958). Wei zhengque guanche zhixing dang de minzu yuwen gongguo fangzhen er fengdou [Strive to correctly implement the Party’s minority language and script polity], Minzu yanjiu [Nationalities Research], 3, 1–9.China (1981). Dang de minzu zhengce wenxian ziliao xuanbian [Selected Chinese Communist Party Documents on Nationalities]. Beijing: Minzu yanjiu suo [Institute of Ethnology & Anthropology]. China (1996). Guojia minwei wenjian xuanbian, 1985–1995 [Selected Documents of the State Commission on Ethnic Affairs, 1985–1995]. Beijing: China Minhang Press.Google Scholar

China (2010). China Democratic National Construction Association’s proposal on solutions to educational problems in minority area [Minjian zhongyang guanyu jiejue bianjing shaoshu minzu diqu jiaoyue wenti de ti’an]. Retrieved 23 May 2018 from http://minzu.people.com.cn/GB/169927/11106525.html Google Scholar

Coatsworth, J. (2004). Globalization, growth, welfare in history. In Suarez-Orozco, M. M. & Qin-Hilliard, D. B., eds., Globalization: Culture and Education in the New Millennium. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 38–55.Google Scholar

Coluzzi, P., Rget, P. N. & Wang, X. M. (2017). Language vitality among the Orang Asli of Malaysia: the case of the Mah Meri on Telo’ Gunjeng (Carey Island, Selangor). International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 244, 137–62.Google Scholar

Cooper, R. L. (1989). Language Planning and Social Change. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Coupland, N. & Kristiansen, T. (2011). SLICE: critical perspectives on language (de)standardization. In Kristiansen, T. & Coupland, N., eds., Standard Languages and Language Standards in a Changing Europe. Oslo: Novus Press, pp. 11–35.Google Scholar

Crystal, D. (1987). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Crystal, D. (2003). English as a Global Language, 2nd edn. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar

Cuadras-Morató, X., ed. (2016). Catalonia: A New Independent State in Europe? A Debate over Secession within the European Union. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

Dai, Q. X., Ding, Q. S. & Li, B. Z. (1992). Hanyu yu shaoshu minzu yuyan guanxi gailun [An Introduction to the Relationship between Chinese and Minority Languages]. Beijing: Minzu University Press.Google Scholar

Dreyer, J. T. (1976). China’s Forty Million: Minority Nationalities and National Integration in the People’s Republic of China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar

Encarnación, O. G. (2018). The Catalan Crisis, One Year Later. Retrieved 9 December 2018 from www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/spain/2018-10-08/catalan-crisis-one-year-later Google Scholar

Fairclough, N. (2006). Language and Globalization. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

Faulks, K. (2000). Citizenship. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

Fei, X. T. (1999). The Pattern of Diversity in Unity of the Chinese Nation. Beijing: Minzu University Press.Google Scholar

Ferguson, C. A. (1971). Language Structure and Language Use: Essays. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar

Fidrmuc, J., Ginsburgh, V. & Weber, S. (2009). Voting on the choice of core languages in the European Union. European Journal of Political Economy, 25(1), 56–62.Google Scholar

Fishman, J. A. (1966). Language Loyalty in the United States: The Maintenance and Perpetuation of Non-English Mother Tongues by American Ethnic and Religious Groups. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar

Fishman, J. A. (1968a). Nationality-nationalism and nation-nationism. In Fishman, J. A., Ferguson, C. A. & Das Gupta, J., eds., Language Problems of Developing Nations. New York: Wiley, pp. 39–54.Google Scholar

Fishman, J. A. (1968b). Sociolinguistics and the language problems of the developing countries. In Fishman, J. A., Ferguson, C. A. & Das Gupta, J., eds., Language Problems of Developing Nations. New York: Wiley, pp. 3–16.Google Scholar

Fishman, J. A. (1972a). Language and Nationalism: Two Integrative Essays. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar

Fishman, J. A. (1972b). National languages and languages of wider communication. In Fishman, J. A., ed., Advances in the Sociology of Language. Vol II: Selected Studies and Applications. The Hague: Mouton, pp. 191–223.Google Scholar

Fishman, J. A. (1998–99). The new linguistic order. Foreign Policy, 112, 26–40.Google Scholar

Fishman, J. A., Ferguson, C. A. & Das Gupta, J. (1968). Language Problems of Developing Nations. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar

Fu, M. J. (1995). Fu Maoji xiansheng minzu yuwen lunwen ji [Collection of Fu Maoji’s Papers on Minority Languages]. Beijing: China Social Science Press.Google Scholar

Garvin, P. L. (1959). The standard language problem: concepts and methods. Anthropological Linguistics, 1(3): 28–31.Google Scholar

Grenoble, L. A. (2003). Language Policy in the Soviet Union. New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRef Google Scholar

Hassanpour, A. (1999). Language rights in the emerging world linguistic order: the state, market and communication technologies. In Kontra, M., Phillipson, R., Skutnabb-Kangas, T. & Várady, T., eds., Language: A Right and a Resource. Budapest: Central European University Press, pp. 223–41.CrossRef Google Scholar

Haugen, E. (1959). Planning for a standard language in Norway. Anthropological Linguistics, 1(3), 8–21.Google Scholar

Heller, M. (2010). Language as resource in the globalized new economy. In Coupland, N., ed., The Handbook of Language and Globalization. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 349–65.Google Scholar

Hornberger, N. H. (2006). Frameworks and models in language policy and planning. In Ricento, T., ed., An Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Method. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 24–43.Google Scholar

Institut de Sociolinguistica Catalana (2018). Catalan in France. Retrieved 15 December 2018 from www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/catala/an/i5/i5.html#top Google Scholar

ISO (2018). Language Codes – ISO 639. Retrieved 12 February 2018 from www.iso.org/iso-639-language-codes.html Google Scholar

Judge, A. (2000). France: ‘one state, one nation, one language?’. In Barbour, S. & Carmichael, C., eds., Language and Nationalism in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 44–82.Google Scholar

Kellner-Heinkele, B. & Landau, J. M. (2012). Language Politics in Contemporary Central Asia: National and Ethnic Identity and the Soviet Legacy. New York: I. B. Tauris.CrossRef Google Scholar

Kennedy, K. J. (1997). Citizenship education in review: past perspectives and future needs. In Kennedy, K. J., ed., Citizenship Education and the Modern State. London: Falmer Press, pp. 1–5.Google Scholar

Kloss, H. (1969). Research Possibilities on Group Bilingualism: A Report. Quebec: International Center for Research on Bilingualism.Google Scholar

Lai, H. Y. (2016). Ethnic autonomous regions and the unitary multi-ethnic nation-state. In Zang, X. W., ed., Handbook on Ethnic Minorities in China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 138–64.Google Scholar

Laporte, P. E. (1984). Status language planning in Quebec: an evaluation. In Bourhis, R. Y, ed., Conflict and Language Planning in Quebec. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 53–80.Google Scholar

Laurendeau, P. (2015). Office québécois de la langue française. Retrieved 1 December 2018 from www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/office-de-la-langue-francaise Google Scholar

Leibold, J. (2012). Can China have a melting pot? Retrieved 12 August 2020 from https://thediplomat.com/2012/05/can-china-have-a-melting-pot Google Scholar

Leibold, J. (2016). Preferential policies for ethnic minorities in China. In Zang, X. W., ed., Handbook on Ethnic Minorities in China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 165–88.Google Scholar

Leng, R. (2013). Shenme shi zhongguo meng, zenme lijie zhongguo meng [What is the Chinese dream? And how it is understood?]. Retrieved 20 June 2018 from http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2013/0426/c1003-21285328.html Google Scholar

Li, D. Z. (1999). Zhongyan disandai lingdao yu shaoshu minzu [The Third Generation of the Chinese Communist Party Leadership and Ethnic Minorities]. Beijing: Minzu University Press.Google Scholar

Li, L. S. & Xia, N. (2017). The linguistic landscape in a multiethnic region: the case of Lijiang’s old town. Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning, 2(2), 35–42.Google Scholar

Li, Y. M. (2015). Language Planning in China. Beijing: De Gruyter Mouton and Commercial Press.Google Scholar

Ma, R. (1998). Nation-building of China’s pluralist unity and the future perspectives. Journal of Indian Anthropological Society, 33, 47–57.Google Scholar

Ma, R. (2007). A new perspective in guiding ethnic relations in the twenty-first century: ‘depoliticization’ of ethnicity in China. Asian Ethnicity, 8(3), 199–217.Google Scholar

Mackerras, C. (1994). China’s Minorities: Integration and Modernization in the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Mao, G. N. & Liu, W. Q. (2004). Minzu zhengce yanjiu wenxong disanji [The Third Collection of Minority Policy Studies]. Beijing: Minzu Press.Google Scholar

Marshall, D. F. (1996). A politics of language: language as a symbol in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its aftermath. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 118, 7–41.Google Scholar

McCarty, T. L. (1998). Schooling, resistance, and American Indian languages. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 132, 27–41.Google Scholar

McCarty, T. L. & Watahomigie, L. J. (2010). Indigenous community-based language education in the USA. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 11(3), 309–24.Google Scholar

Miller, D. (1995). On Nationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Milroy, J. (2001). Language ideologies and the consequences of standardization. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 5(4), 530–55.CrossRef Google Scholar

Milroy, J. & Milroy, L. (1999). Authority in Language: Investigating Standard English, 3rd edn. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

MOE (2004). Minzu yuyan wenzi guifan biaozhun jianshe yu xinxihua keti zhinan [Guidelines on the development and informatization of standards for minority language scripts]. Retrieved 12 August 2020 from http://old.moe.gov.cn//publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/A19_sjhj/201411/178095.html Google Scholar

Mullaney, T. S. (2011). Coming to Terms with the Nation: Ethnic Classification in Modern China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar

Rees, E. L. (1996). Spain’s linguistic normalization laws: the Catalan controversy. Hispania, 79(2), 313–21.Google Scholar

Renminwang (2015). Xi Jinping de minzu guan [Xi Jinping’s views on ethnic minorities]. Retrieved 12 August 2020 from http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2015/0824/c1001-27508701.html Google Scholar

Rumford, C. (2006). Introduction: theorizing borders. European Journal of Social Theory, 9(2), 155–69.Google Scholar

Safran, W. (2010). Political science and politics. In Fishman, J. A. & García, O., eds., Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identities: Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives, 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 48–69.Google Scholar

Serdyuchenko, G. P. (1956). Sulian chuangli wenzi he jianli biaozhun yu de jingnian [The Soviet experience in creating writing systems and establishing standard languages]. Yuyan Yanjiu [Language Research], 1, 129–67.Google Scholar

Simpson, A. (2007). Language and National Identity in Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Smith, A. D. (1986). State-making and nation-building. In Hall, J. A., ed., States in History. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 228–63.Google Scholar

Smith, J. A. & Smith, K. J. (2017). Indigenous language development in East Malaysia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 244, 119–35.Google Scholar

Sun, H. K., Hu, Z. Y. & Huang, X. (2007). The Languages of China. Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar

Taras, R. (1998). Nations and language-building: old theories and contemporary cases. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 4(3), 79–101.Google Scholar

Tosi, A., ed. (2003). The Challenges of Multilingual Translation for the European Union. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar

Tsung, L. (2014). Language Power and Hierarchy: Multilingual Education in China. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar

UNESCO (2018). Concept Note. Retrieved 21 December 2018 from https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/concept_note_19-21_september_2018_china.pdf Google Scholar

Viroli, M. (1995). For Love of Country: An Essay on Patriotism and Nationalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar

Wiley, T. G. (2000). Continuity and change in the function of language ideologies in the United States. In Ricento, T., ed., Ideology, Politics, and Language Policies: Focus on English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 67–86.CrossRef Google Scholar

Wiley, T. G. & García, O. (2016). Language policy and planning in language education: legacies, consequences, and possibilities. Modern Language Journal, 100(Supplement), 48–63.Google Scholar

Wright, S. (2004). Language Policy and Language Planning: From Nationalism to Globalization. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar

Xiao, Y. (2011). Chinese language in the United States: an ethnolinguistic perspective. In Tsung, L. & Cruickshank, K., eds., Teaching and Learning Chinese in Global Contexts. London: Continuum, pp. 181–96.Google Scholar

Xie, Q. F. & Hou, R. H. (2011). On utilizing outside internet media in the education of cross-border minority nationality university students: a case study of Kirgiz university students of Tarim University. Journal of Huaihua University, 30(12), 92–4.Google Scholar

Yang, H. Y. (2012). Naxi, Chinese and English: Multilingualism in Lijiang. Doctoral thesis. Macquarie University.Google Scholar

Yang, J. C. (1995). Mao Zedong minzu lilun yanjiu [A Study of Mao Zedong on Nationalities]. Beijing: Minzu Press.Google Scholar

Yang, S. D. & Zhang, S. S. (2018). Qiannan zhou renda changweihui renzhen shenyi shuishu shenbao ‘shijie jiyi yichan minglu’ [The Standing Committee of Qiannan Prefecture People’s Congress reviewed the Shui script’s application for the Memory of the World Register]. Retrieved 11 February 2018 from www.mzb.com.cn/html/report/180125066-1.htm Google Scholar

Yu, F. J. (2014). Wo guo kuajing minzu yujing zhong de kuajing chuanbo celue yanjiu [A study of transnational broadcasting policies for China’s transnational minorities]. Gansu shsui kexue [Gansu Social Sciences], 2, 224–7.Google Scholar

Yunnan (1998). Minzu wenzi de chuangzhi yu gaijin [The Creation and Improvement of Writing Systems for Minority Languages]. Kunming: Yunnan Minzu Press.Google Scholar

Yunnan (2016). Zai ‘zhiguo minzu’ Putonghua peixun gongzuo tuijin hui shang de jianghua [Speech at the conference on Putonghua training for direct transitional minority communities]. Retrieved 12 June 2018 from http://yn.people.com.cn/news/yunnan/n2/2016/1013/c372127-29138699.html Google Scholar

Zhang, Z. G. (2018). English-medium instruction policies in China: internationalization of higher education. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 39(6), 542–55.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2003). Multilingualism in China: The Politics of Writing Reforms for Minority Languages 1949–2002. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2010a). China: the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In Fishman, J. A. & García, O., eds., Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 470–85.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2010b). The fate of the Soviet model of multinational state-building in the People’s Republic of China. In Bernstein, T. P. and Li, H.-Y., eds., China Learns from the Soviet Union, 1949–Present. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, pp. 477–503.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2012). Models of nation-state building and indigenous knowledge inheritance. Journal of Educational Science of Hunan Normal University, 11(6), 15–20.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2015). Nation-state building and rising China: PRC’s discourse on the Chinese language since the turn of the 21st century. In Tsung, L. & Wang, W., eds., Contemporary Chinese Discourse and Social Practice in China. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 59–80.CrossRef Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2016). Nation-state building and multiculturalism in China. In Zang, X. W., ed., Handbook on Ethnic Minorities in China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 111–37.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2017). Language ideology and language order: conflicts and compromises in colonial and postcolonial Asia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 243, 97–118.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2018). The evolution of language education policies in greater China in the last one hundred years. Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning, 3(5), 11–20.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. (2019). Language Ideology and Order in Rising China. London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. & Hill, A. M., eds. (2009). Affirmative Action in China and the U.S.: A Dialogue on Inequality and Minority Education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar

Zhou, M. & Wang, X. M. (2017). Introduction: understanding language management and multilingualism in Malaysia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 244, 1–16.Google Scholar

Zou, J. C. (2015). Beichuan wa kaikou xue Qiangyu [Kids in northern Sichuan begin to study Qiang]. Retrieved 11 February 2018 from http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2015-08-21/doc-ifxhehqr6125337.shtml Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this chapter is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.