The death of dialects? The state of regional dialects in contemporary China

Absztrakt (kivonat)

China has more than 3000 years of history, and it has more than 130 kinds of regional dialects. Some of these dialects are the embodiment of Chinese ancient languages and cultures, however it does not stop Chinese dialects from dying. With the rapid economic development and urbanization, 2011 marks the first year in Chinese history when the population living in city exceeded the population that living in rural area State Statistical Bureau）. And this situation puts many dialects in danger. In order to raise awareness, a research could be conducted. In 1955 China put Mandarin as the official language, and encourage everyone to speak Mandarin instead of dialects, in school it is forbidden to teach in dialects and thus the hypothesis is that that younger generation in China does not speak a dialect, then they will not be teaching their descendant to speak a dialect. There are two approaches to identify the problem in order to solve them. The first one is qualitative approaches, some people who speak a dialect living in city will be interviewed. The second approach is to conduct a questionnaire, which will be focus on the age group of 15-25, they represent the young generation, and their opinion will directly affect the next generation. The limitation of this research is there is not enough data, it is impossible for individuals to conduct a census within the limits of this thesis, however a pattern is expected to be found in the research. If the result shows that younger generation does not speak a dialect, then they will not be teaching their descendant to speak a dialect. if a dialect dies, the culture within it dies too.