Minority Language Policy in China, with Observations on the She Ethnic Group
نویسنده
چکیده
China is a country with a deep history, vast territory, a burgeoning population (1.3 billion and counting) and, consequently, a multitude of languages spoken within its borders. Of the over 200 languages spoken by the 105 million non-Han minorities in China, at least 85 are considered to be endangered (Bradley 2005). These include languages of the Tibeto-Burman, Mon-Khmer, TaiKadai, Hmong-Mien, Austronesian, and Altaic (Turkic, Mongolic, Tungusic) families. The state of minority languages has been and continues to be deeply affected by the policies of China’s rulers, past and present. This paper summarizes the history of minority language policy in China and discusses current issues facing endangered languages there, ending with some observations on the “She” people in southeast China, a small subset of whom speak an endangered Hmong-Mien language.
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