Cover not available
Part of
The Intricacy of Languages
Edited by Francesc Feliu and Olga Fullana
[IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature 20] 2019
► pp. 205–226

The standardization of Chinese

A process run alongside Catalan for a century?

| Universitat de Lleida

Modern Standard Chinese, known as Putonghua (or Common Speech), as well as Mandarin in the West, is the official language used by the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the island city-state of Singapore. As a result of the May Fourth Movement of 1919, the bases for a modern Chinese literary language reform were put forward in order to get an up-to-date national language, by substituting the colloquial speech (báihuà) for the classical language (wényán). However, it was under Mao Zedong’s rule when a threefold sociolinguistic reform was implemented in his first decade in power: oral standardization based on Pekingese, character simplification and the adoption of Pinyin. Alongside Chinese, Catalan experienced a language reform under the Institut d’Estudis Catalans’ and Pompeu Fabra’s leadership during the first third of the 20th century.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The process of language standardization: Terminology and basic concepts
  • 3.Ethnic and linguistic diversity in China: Chinese and non-Chinese languages
  • 4.From the Empire to the Republic: The first and genuine Chinese Cultural Revolution: The May Fourth Movement (1919)
    • 4.1A common goal reached along divergent paths: Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi
    • 4.2The three-fold reform in the People’s Republic: Between Mao and Zhou
      • 4.2.1From the Old Mandarin to the Modern Putonghua : Standard Chinese
      • 4.2.2The Romanization of Chinese and the simplification of characters
  • 5.Is it possible to draw a parallel between the respective processes of language standardization at the two ends of Eurasia?
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 30 October 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ivitra.20.12jul
References (18)
Chou, Tse-tsung [Zhou Zezong]
1960 The May Fourth movement: Intellectual revolution in modern China. Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen Duxiu
(ed.) 1915 La Jeunesse 1 (Youth Magazine). Shanghai.Google Scholar
Fabra, Pompeu
1917 Diccionari ortogràfic. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans.Google Scholar
1918 Gramàtica catalana. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans.Google Scholar
1932a El català literari. Barcelona: Barcino.Google Scholar
1932b Diccionari general de la llengua catalana. Barcelona: Catalonia.Google Scholar
2005–2013 Obres completes (9 volumes), ed. by Jordi Mir, and Joan Solà. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans.Google Scholar
Hsü, Immanuel C. Y.
5 1995 The Rise of Modern China. [1rst ed. 1970] Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hu, Shi
1933 “Pi-shang Liang-shan” (Forced to the Liang Mountain). Shanghai. [Reprinted in Taipei 1967 Quotation from Lee’s English version 2002].Google Scholar
1934 The Chinese Renaissance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Julià-Muné, Joan
2017 La pronunciación del chino estándar: teoría, práctica y adaptaciones. Lleida: Edicions de la UdL.Google Scholar
Lamuela, Xavier
1994 Estandardització i establiment de les llengües. Barcelona: Edicions 62.Google Scholar
Lamuela, Xavier i Murgades, Josep
1984 Teoria de la llengua literària segons Fabra. Barcelona: Quaderns Crema.Google Scholar
Lee, Leo Ou-Fan
2002 “Literary Trends I: The Quest for Modernity, 1895–1927”. In An Intellectual History of Modern China, ed. by Merle Goldman, and Leo Ou-Fan Lee, 142–195. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Norman, Jerry
1988 Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Polanco, Lluís B.
1984 “La normativa al País Valencià. Problemàtica i perspectives”. In Problemàtica de la normativa del català. Actes de les Primeres Jornades d’Estudi de la Llengua Normativa (setembre-octubre de 1983), ed. by M. Teresa Cabré, Joan Martí, Lídia Pons, and Joan Solà, 107–146. Barcelona: Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat.Google Scholar
Ramsey, S. Robert
1987 The Languages of China. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Vallverdú, Francesc
1990 L’ús del català: un futur controvertit. Barcelona: Edicions 62.Google Scholar