[LINK] "The Phasing out of Chinese 'Dialects'"

[rfmcdonald]

Language Log's Victor Mair reports on news that the Chinese government plans to phase out broadcasting in dialects--Cantonese and Shanghainese, for instance, which stand as languages in their own right but for politics.

[I]n a report circulated by China Daily / ANN and carried in The Straits Times, we learn: "Dialects to be phased out of China's prime time TV"

TV PROGRAMS with local dialects will be gradually phased out of prime time, Huang Sheng, vice governor of East China's Shandong province, said on Thursday at a provincial meeting to promote putonghua, or mandarin - the main spoken language in China - Shandong Commercial Times reported.

Ten years ago, China enacted the Law on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language.

Mr Huang said media plays a leading role in promoting Putonghua; TV programs with local dialects need to be moved out of prime time. 'It may take time to finally achieve that goal,' said Mr Huang.

But some linguistic experts are worried the rapid development of putonghua will lead to the disappearance of some dialects. Some have suggested setting up dialect TV channels and holding dialect speech competitions among primary and middle school students.

'We should promote a multi-lingual environment for a more harmonious society,' said Li Lunxin, a researcher. 'Promoting putonghua does not mean we have to forbid using dialects. The two can co-exist and co-develop.'

Various dialects in China, mainly from the south, have been on the decline as people become more educated and are communicating more in mandarin, which is based on northern China's dialects.

Vice Governor Huang Sheng may proclaim the determination of the Chinese government to do away with prime time shows in local languages, but the disappearance of such programming is highly unlikely to be realized. Note that it was ten years ago that China enacted the Law on Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language, and they still have a "problem" with so-called dialects. Mr. Sheng admits that "It may take time to finally achieve that goal" of removing TV programs in local "dialects" from prime time. With this open admission that the government cannot succeed immediately, or even quickly, in phasing out prime time programming in "dialects" other than Mandarin, the article then shifts gears.

Mair predicts that this isn't going to work out because of inertia, and that speakers of minority regional languages will react badly to continued official attempts to marginalize their speech forms. Commenters compare the Chinese situation with the catastrophic erosion of minority languages in France, and contrast it to the strength of dialects in Taiwan.

Go, read.