The Chinese language, spoken by over one billion people, has undergone drastic changes over the past century. This book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date account of the development of Modern Chinese from the late nineteenth century to the 1990s. It describes and analyzes in detail, from historical and sociolinguistic perspectives, the establishment and promotion of Modern Spoken Chinese and Modern Written Chinese, and the reform of the Chinese script, and reveals the interaction of linguistic, historical and social factors in the recent development of the language.
Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"...Ping Chen's account of the history of standard Chinese is interesting and thought-provoking...a rich, valuable, and important addition to the basic literature in the field of Chinese linguistics. The book will be of great interest both to students who seek an introduction to the nature of Modern Chinese in its sociolinguistic aspects and to specialists who wish to delve further into any of those aspects." Anthropological Linguistics
"Modern Chinese whets our appetite for more and better analysis of language change. Until recently, the study of Chinese sociolinguistics has beed neglected because of politics. Chen's unprecedented attention to sociolinguistics opens up insights on language and social relationships that are just now beginning to be explored." Language in Society
"Modern Chinese whets our appetite for more and better analysis of language change. Until recently, the study of Chinese sociolinguistics has beed neglected because of politics. Chen's unprecedented attention to sociolinguistics opens up insights on language and social relationships that are just now beginning to be explored." Language in Society
Book Description
The Chinese language, spoken by over one billion people, has undergone drastic changes over the past century. This book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the development of Modern Chinese from the late nineteenth century up to the 1990s. It describes and analyses in detail, from historical and sociolinguistic perspectives, the establishment and promotion of Modern Spoken Chinese and Modern Written Chinese, and the reform of the Chinese script, and reveals the interaction of linguistic, historical and social factors in the recent development of the language.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good overview of the history of the language,
By
This review is from: Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics (Paperback)
Chen does an excellent job of tracking the development of Modern Chinese not only in the mainland - where language policy reform, character simplification, and drives to increase national literacy rates make for interesting reading - but also in Taiwan, Singapore and overseas Chinese-speaking communities. The author is clear and thorough in his analysis of dialects as well as Standard Mandarin, and disparate influences (such as Japan) are discussed in detail. While I am happy to see that the book uses proper pinyin romanization for Chinese terms, the only improvement I could suggest would be to include the hanzi (character) equivalent as well to assist second-language learners of Chinese. A good resource for both linguists and students of the language.
Nathan Dummitt author of Chinese Through Tone & Color
11 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
History of Modern Chinese,
By
This review is from: Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics (Paperback)
Those interested in the history and development of modern Chinese will find this a must read. It covers the written and spoken language and has some interesting, little known points, such as the influence of Japanese on modern Chinese and the liberal policies of Beijing towards dialects. He also talks about Taiwan and Singapore and the status of the various Chinese "languages". Reading this book you realize what a modern language Putonghua or Guoyu is in many ways. Informative yet easy to read this belongs on the bookshelf of any serious Chinese student. I hope Chen Ping is working on a follow up devoted to the spoken language and it's varieties.
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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new culture movement, national language movement, traditional báihuà, language planning institutions, old national pronunciation, latinxua sin wenz, bona fide writing system, local pútónghuà, xíngshéng characters, cenemic syllabograms, zhùyin zimú, guóyú luómázi, phonographic writing system, semantic determinatives, lexical norms, distinct writing systems, dialectal base, script reform, phonographic system, phonetic determinatives, homophonous morphemes, traditional writing system, other dialect areas, standard writing system, use pútónghuà Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Modern Written Chinese, Modern Standard Chinese, Modern Chinese, Northern Mandarin, Old Chinese, Southern Min, Hong Kong, First Scheme, Ministry of Education, Second Scheme, Qian Xuantong, Medieval Chinese, Republic of China, Southern Song, Cultural Revolution, Zhou Youguang, Chen Duxiu, Southern China, Taiwan Mandarin, State Language Commission, Opium War, Wang Zhao, Chinese Singaporeans, Yellow River, Liu Bannong Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
new culture movement, national language movement, traditional báihuà, language planning institutions, old national pronunciation, latinxua sin wenz, bona fide writing system, local pútónghuà, xíngshéng characters, cenemic syllabograms, zhùyin zimú, guóyú luómázi, phonographic writing system, semantic determinatives, lexical norms, distinct writing systems, dialectal base, script reform, phonographic system, phonetic determinatives, homophonous morphemes, traditional writing system, other dialect areas, standard writing system, use pútónghuà Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Modern Written Chinese, Modern Standard Chinese, Modern Chinese, Northern Mandarin, Old Chinese, Southern Min, Hong Kong, First Scheme, Ministry of Education, Second Scheme, Qian Xuantong, Medieval Chinese, Republic of China, Southern Song, Cultural Revolution, Zhou Youguang, Chen Duxiu, Southern China, Taiwan Mandarin, State Language Commission, Opium War, Wang Zhao, Chinese Singaporeans, Yellow River, Liu Bannong Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
7
books
cite this book:
See all 7 books citing this book
- Personal Liberty and Public Good: The Introduction of John Stuart Mill to Japan and China by Douglas Howland in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Writing Systems: A Linguistic Approach (Blackwell Textbooks in Linguistics) by Henry Rogers in Back Matter
- Language, Education, and Ideology: Mapping the Linguistic Landscape of U.S. Schools by Timothy Reagan on page 54
- Language Change in East Asia by T. E. McAuley on page 203
- Multilingualism in China: The Politics of Writing Reforms for Minority Languages, 1949-2002 (Contributions to the Society of Language, 89) by Minglang Zhou in Back Matter
See all 7 books citing this book
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