The effects of language policy in China A

Abstract

The population of China consists of 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, which speak (depending on the criteria used) from 135 to nearly 300 languages. About 90% of the population declare themselves as belonging to the Han-Chinese nationality. The language spoken by this majority is by no means uniform, the varieties of Chinese are so diversified, that most of them are mutually unintelligible, and some linguists even call them separate languages. The remaining 10% speak languages that are classified into five language families. Is it possible to introduce one common language in a country with the largest population on Earth? China has been carrying out such a language policy since the 1950s. The goal is to spread the national standard – Mandarin, or Putonghua, all over the country, so that all inhabitants could communicate freely. This idealistic work is already very advanced and it has caused vast changes in the linguistic landscape of China. Not all the rights of minority languages declared in the constitution are respected. Also the non-Mandarin varieties of Chinese are subject to unification and noticeable changes are ongoing in the local tongues. This paper shows the various aspects of Chinese language policy, the positive and negative effects it has on the languages spoken in China.