Dialect is a specific form of a language that has great significance to a nationality [1]. According to the United Nations, there are 56 nationalities in China and more than 100 of the dialect languages are in danger of extinction [2]. This striking statistic illustrates the importance of Chinese dialect preserving. This essay will describe the problems regard to disappearance of the dialect, and outline the solutions that make the efforts to preserve the dialects, with accurate evaluation.
Dialects are one of special culture with many characteristics in China. Throughout approximately 130 local dialects, many Chinese dialects even have longer history than Mandarin itself, so the dialect is an indispensable part of Chinese culture. If China does not try to protect valuable dialects, it would be losing a vital part of Cultural treasures [2]. However, according to LiLan, professor of dialectology, the dialects disappear so fast that beyond the pace of government’s protection [2]. In conclusion, dialect preserving in China is an urgent problem that need the government and people get together to solve.
The problem with dialect preserving is that the development of Mandarin hinders the use of dialect and real dialect speakers become less. With the government forces people to use Mandarin in daily life [3], it was a stupid way for government to break the link between language and culture language within China, although the use of Mandarin has promote the development of Chinese economy and society [4]. However, the room for a dialects’ survival seems to be getting smaller and smaller. The protection of the dialects does not get the support of the Chinese government and the parents do not pay attention to the Children’s dialect educat...
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...vailable: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/dialect. [Accessed 08 11 2013].
[2] Y. Ran, “Dialects endangered by modernization,” 17 03 2011. [Online]. Available: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-03/17/content_12183431.htm. [Accessed 08 11 2013].
[3] Pan, “Phonemica:Americans Mapping and Preserving Chinese Dialects,” 07 07 2013. [Online]. Available: http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/stories/phonemica-americans-mapping-and-preserving-chinese-dialects.html. [Accessed 08 11 2013].
[4] j. ohata, “China's Disappearing Dialects,” 10 05 2013. [Online]. Available: http://chinesepod.com/blog/china-s-disappearing-dialects/1152#sthash.4GEPMQZr.dpuf. [Accessed 08 11 2013].
[5] C. Jinzhang, “Let the fate of local dialects take its course,” 13 09 2010. [Online]. Available: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/2010-09/13/content_20916626.htm. [Accessed 08 11 2013].
Wright, Katy M. “The Role of Dialect Representation in Speaking from the Margins: “The Lesson” of Toni Cade Bambara.” Style. 42.1 (2008): 73-87. Proquest. SEMO Kent Lib., Cape Girardeau, MO. 12 April 2009. .
Ghana was a British colony and most people there spoke English. The small native languages in Ghana were trampled because of the English language. When Ghana was able to get their independence from Britain, they rebuilt Ghana. After talking about Ghana, the video goes all the way to China. In China there are many people that speak Changsha Hua which is a dialect of Mandarin. The lady that was being interviewed in this segment talked in her native tongue, Changsha Hua. She was taught the dialect, but in school, she was taught Mandarin. The Chinese government wants people to speak Mandarin because it 's the most spoke languages around the world. Many jobs in China you have to be able to speak Mandarin. The lady in the interview said that when she has kids she will not teach them Changsha Hua because she does not think there is a need for them to know. I see how Changsha Hua is starting to become a loss
Cheng, Pei-kai, Michael Elliot. Lestz, and Jonathan D. Spence. The Search for Modern China: A Documentary Collection. New York: Norton, 1999. Print.
It is apparent that there are many types of dialect within American English. The coexisting of two or more languages, either serving together in the same area or servicing different areas, is as old as language itself (Pei 106). This has happened throughout time and appears to be inevitable. It is impossible to believe an entire country could conform to one language, and then only one dialect of that language. Throughout history societies have survived for some time using different languages until these language barriers tore territories apart. It is apparent how, in America, barriers between dialects separate black men from white men even more than physical conditions.
Analysis of the primary and secondary sources, demonstrates that although culture is constantly evolving, multiple aspects of modern Chinese culture originated from the development of the Han dynasty. Investigation of China’s foreign interactions
Dialect is used multiple times in the book. Dialect is the way characters speak compared to others. Jurgis and his family barely speak any english at all, so when they do it is mostly broken english in very short sentences. Their lack of ability to speak english hurts them many times in the book, and is a recurring issue for them. One instance of this is when they
Li, K., & Mengyan, F. (2013). A historical survey on modernization of Chinese culture. Asian Social Science, 9(4), 129-132. doi:10.5539/ass.v9n4p129
China has gone through many changes in its history. Changes include economic, political, and social. In the early 1500 and throughout history, mostly all social classes followed Confucianism. Confucianism is a type of religion based on an ideal society (Chang 2012, 22). China was molded though Confucianism but that slowly deteriorated as years went on. One main group that has been a main part in these changes is the Chinese literati. The Chinese literati include the higher-class people such as officials and scholars. The Chinese literati were the dominant social class during the 1500’s but their power slowly decreased throughout history. Throughout my paper, I will explain the Chinese literati involvement as centuries passed.
Analyzing dialects can be difficult due to the fact that is it hard to transcribe the pronunciation of an individual dialect because English is not spelled the same way it is pronounced. Furthermore, one person’s interpretation of spelling a dialect might not match up with another’s, so the reader might not “hear” the dialect properly. Regardless, written versions of dialects are essential to discussing dialectical differences.
Woolard, Kathryn A. “ Language Variation and Cultural Hegemony: Toward an Integration of Sociolinguistic and Social Theory.” American Ethnologist. Vol. 12, No. 4 (November 1985), pp. 738-748. 31 May 2010. Print.
Linguistic knowledge mainly consists of four parts, and they are Phonology, Morphology, Syntax and Pragmatics. Phonology forms systems and patterns, which allows speakers to produce sounds in order to make meaningful sentence. For example, nt always appears in the middle or at the end of the words but not at the beginning. Morphology studies how words are formed as well as their relationship to other words in the language you know, which allows you to know the internal structure and the category of the word. For example, “undesirability” has four morphemes: un + desire + able + ity. Syntax refers to rules that are used to form a sentence. We have some fixed rules to determine the structure of a sentence such as “S+V+O”. In order to attain the certain effect, however, the sentence structure can change. For example, “I cannot do this thing” can be changed into “Do this thing I cannot” to emphasis the degree of rejection by the word “cannot”. Pragmatics mainly concerned with the use of language in social contexts. For example, “Turn left and you will find the post
Therefore, we should start considering the statement according to which ‘A speaker of English is necessarily a speaker of some dialect of English’ . As far as the dialect is concerned, this term refers to ‘varieties distinguished from each other by differences of grammar and vocabulary’ . Despite the fact that the previous explanation can sound complete to the majority, the word dialect has had several definitions throughout the years. For example, in the Anglo-Saxon world, it is used for referring to ‘any variety of language that can be delimited linguistically or socially’ . According to another point of view, ‘a dialect is a subset of a language, usually with a geographical restriction on its distribution’ . In Trudgill’s view, as far as the dialect is concerned, another distinction between traditional dialects and mainstream dialects needs to be made. On one hand, the first ones are spoken by the minority of English language speakers and they are located in the most peripheral and rural areas. On the other hand, mainstream dialects include both Standard English dialect and Modern non–standard dialects and they are associated with the urban areas, the youth culture and the so-called middle and upper–class. Wells uses different terms in order to refer to the two dialect categories previously mentioned. Actually, the term Traditional Dialect holds steady, whereas Mainstream Dialect, in Wells’ meaning, becomes General English. Furthermore, Wells notices that the di...
Not all individuals who speak a specific language communicate that language in the exact same way. A language may be divided into several diverse dialects. Three things are required for a brand new tongue to evolve: the passage of time, a collection of individuals that live near each other, and the segregation of this group from other groups.
British accents and dialects have been said to have been subject to massive dialect levelling. Explain what this concept means, and discuss the extent to which this has in fact taken place (or is taking place in the present).
The spread of English where it used as a foreign and/or a second language may be compromised if it is replaced by another language such as Chinese or Spanish. For example, if China continues to gradually dominate the world economically, politically and technologically, its language could replace English as the major foreign language taught and learnt in various countries’ education systems because they b...