关于中央民族大学非民族语言专业学生民族语言学习的研究

ASurvey about the View of the Undergraduate Minorities Students to Their Ethnic Languages in Minzu University of China

⊙乔国存^[1]

Abstract：Based on the survey of the ethnic minority university students who not majored in the major of ethnic language and related to ethnic language in Minzu university about the information such as the mastering current situation of ethnic language，the education experience educated in ethnic language，the emotional and rational feeling on their ethnic language and the view on the future of their ethnic language，after some reference and contrast of the research to the language attitude of the students come from west of Yunnan and inner Mongolia，this paper mainly researches the language view of the ethnic minority students who away from hometown and intometropolis.

Key words：language attitude；ethnic language view；university students of ethnic minority

Introduction

China have 56 ethnic groups：the Han，accounting for almost 91 Percent of the total population，and 55 minorities that account for less than 10 percent of the total population. However，except for Hui，every ethnic group has their own language and more than half of them have their ethnic words.“Language is not only the most important communicating tool of human，but also itself is a kind of culture and the carrier of culture.”（Peng，1995，p305）. Ethnic language，according to the Marxism ethnic theory，is one of basic characteristic of ethnic group. In traditional China，language is also a symbol of differentiating different ethnic groups and“people who speak one kind of language will coagulate into a kind of special ethnic emotion that is an important tie to link members of ethnic group together”^[2]（Peng，1995，p306）. Itmeans that language is also one kind of symbol of ethnic identity. However，although Chinese government insists the view of treating ethnic language equally and fighting against any form of language discrimination，and they have developed many of laws and measures and taken a large number of actions to protect and promote each ethnic language’s equal and free development，it seems that fewer and fewer ethnic minority people can speak their ethnic language. According to the resent language vitality research to each of Chinese ethnic language， the vitality of Chinese ethnic minorities’language are generally low. With reference tomandarin，the Mongolian，Tibetan，Uighur，Kazakh and Korean are 5 relatively stable and high frequently used language，and the vitality of them are about 56percent to 71 percentof the vitality ofmandarin. There are other 15 ethnic minorities’language，such as Dai，Yi，Miao，Zhuang and Wa，etc，the vitality ofwhich are about 14 percent to 35 percent of the vitality ofmandarin and more and more people of these ethnic groups begin to use mandarin and even more than half of people among some of these ethnic groups are speaking mandarin in their daily life. In addition，there are 25 ethnic minorities’language such as Bai，Li，Shui and Dulong，etc，their vitality is less than 10 percent of the vitality ofmandarin and most of these language have no words and only be used by less than 1，000 people，and most of whom lived in remotemountain area. These data suggest that except for Chinese and 5 relatively stable ethnic minorities’language，most of Chinese minorities’language are endangered and gradually abandoned by ethnic groups themselves，especially be fall away by their young people（Wang and Zhu，2011，p145）. Han Leilei and Yuan Guoweihave expounded that language attitude，language use and language skills are closely connected and influenced by each other，the language attitude is formed in the process of language cognition and use，and it also have influence on language cognition and use（Han and Yuan，2008，p69）. Colin Baker（1992）have pointed in the book Attitude and Language that people always think no matter how the language policy，language planning and language requirements，the tendency of attitude fundamentally influence the success or failure of languagemaintain. The above two discussion suggest that language attitude is a quite important factor that influenced the development and maintain of one kind of language. The young people are the future hope of every ethnic groups，and the university students are the elites of their ethnic groups，meanwhile，faced the endangered circumstance of their ethnic language，what is their attitude to their ethnic language？What are the factors that affect their attitude？What is the future of their ethnic language in their eyes？Do they will or want to again or continually study their language？The survey was conducted based on these concerns and questions. Minzu University of China has many thousands of students coming from 56 ethnic groups living and studying together. They are the representatives of their ethnic intellectuals and elites. To some extent，their education experiences and view to their ethnic language is a miniature of the young people’s in their ethnic groups. Based on this fact，the research mainly focused on the questionnaires（n= 168）that are recovered from the questionnaires（n= 180），which had been proportionally sent to students who are notmajored in their ethnic language in Minzu University of China.

Literature Review

There are many studies on the ethnic view from the different angles by different groups，organizations and individuals. From themost basic theory of the view and attitude the people to ethnic language，there are three basic views：one is the view of aggressive nationalists and racists that they propagate national superiority，accordingly contempt，exclude，insult and even forcibly assimilate other kind of languages，themost typical example is the Japanese Fascist nationalism in the World WarⅡ，they propagate dainippon doctrine（Japanese nationlism）and developed slavery education in northeast China，they forbid Chinese speaking Chinese in ensla-ving district intend to eliminate the nationality of Chinese and completely assimilate Chinese ultimately. The other is the Marxist view of ethnic language，which comes from Darwin’s theory of evolution. Chinese Maxists advocate that the“ethnic language has its regular of generation，development and prosperity”（Jin，2006，p424）. The final ending of the ethnic language is all kind of ethnic language will fused into one kind of language that all of ethnic groups can speak and communicate with each others by using it（Jin，2006，p425）. Meanwhile，Chinese Maxist who advocate this view also mentioned that“the ethnic language and words have its relative stability”（Peng，1995，p305）and we should not deliberately and forcibly maintain or eliminate any ethnic languages. Corresponded with the evolutionary view of ethnic language，there is the linguistic relativism，it originated from the cultural relativism，they advocate that “every kind of language have its unique and specialmodel and formation，the language is the organizer of thoughts and experience. Different languages have the different organization of the world”（Yu，2011，p93）and the people who speak different languages have different world views（Yu，2011）. Itmeans that we should respect any language and its diversity. Comparing the three basic perspectives，it can be find that the view of nationalists and racists treat different ethnic and national language with the attitude of inequality and disrespect，relatively，the China’s Marxist adhere to the equal view of ethnic language and respect its free development，while，the linguistic relativis minsists treat different language not only respect its equal and diverse development but also value its importance in the research of social science.

Before the 1970s，the research towards language in worldwide was mainly focused on the history of generation，development and disappearance，the structure and branch，the relationship of language and human behavior and character，the acquirement and broadcast and so on. Since the 1970s，the issues of endangered language were proposed and the language endangered phenomenon rapidly become one of the most heated discussed topic in linguistics（Xu＆Liao，2003，p133），afterwards，a lot of linguists come from different countries，related language research organizations of different countries and UNESCO were did a large number of survey and research，they put forward and developed a lot of policies and measures to record，maintain and save a large number of endangered languages. It can be find that the weaker languages from some vulnerable groups are gaining more and more international attention（Xu＆Liao，2003）. Since the founding of Chinese Communist party，especially after the founding of New China，China’s government and Chinese Communist party regard Marxism as the guide of their action and thinking. Therefore，they adhere to the Marxist view of ethnic language and think the ethnic language will be replaced by common language. However，China’s Maxists also advocate that “the socialist period is the time of the prosperity and development of each ethnic language and words”（Jin，2006，p425）and they insist that every kind of ethnic language is equal. Therefore，China’s government always insists on respecting every ethnic language and words，every ethnic groups have the freedom of using and developing their ethnic language（Jin，2006）. Based on these views，China’s government have developed a large number of policies and taken many ofmeasures to help Chineseminorities develop their ethnic languages，for example China’s government had helped 11 minority groups who have languages but no words create the words and 3 minority groups improve their ethnic words. Meanwhile，China has implemented bilingual education programs in ethnic communities since the founding of New China. In addition，recently，the government and the relative organization are inputting large number of manpower and resource to record，arrange and savemany of endangered minorities’ethnic language. From the above discussion，it shouldn’t doubt that China’s government’s views and actions of ethnic language are aim to the free development of China’s ethnic languages.

According to Noels’（1992）research that the ethnolinguistic vitality is a very important element that greatly affect the development of language，there are three factors affecting the vitality of ethnic language，the status of the ethnic groups who possess of one language，the demographic factors and the institutional expenditures（Wu＆Zuo，2008，p127）. From the aspect of ethnic groups’status，the Chinese Constitution stipulates that the citizens of the PRC are equal and the law of Regional Ethnic Autonomy of Republic of China also states that all ethnic groups are equal in China. From the aspect of the institutional expenditures，a lot of policies and measures were worked out and have been executed by Chinese government to rescue some endangered ethnic languages and maintain the development of these languages and other weaker ethnic languages. The China’s government has created a very loose and free environment of the development of ethnic language，from the angle of demographic factors，what’s the view and attitude of the Chinese ethnic groups？Zhang and Ding（2004）pointed out that some Tibetan officials and cadres in Tibet strongly advocate and support ethnic education and develop ethnic language in speeches and reports，while they privately send their children to the Chinese school. Some officials，cadres and intellectuals of ethnic minorities who wellmastered Chinese even advocate students of ethnic minorities to learn Chinese directly and cancel the bilingual education for catching up with Han in culture and education. Some Korean parents clear that they don’t support their children study Korean language because the thinking of future employment（Zhan＆Ding，2004）. Although this phenomenon that ethnic minorities’parents prefer to send their children to Chinese school happened in a local area and specific population，it seems a trend that some ethnic minorities’parents who have accepted Chinese education and have long-term plans for their children are more willing to send their children to Chinese school and accept Chinese education. What’s the view and attitude of the children and the students of ethnic minorities？According to a survey of Mongolian students’identity to their ethnic language in 3 Mongolian middle schools in Inner Mongolia（Zhan＆Ding，2004），it is a clear trend that the frequency and scope of use in Chinese in daily life among Mongolia students and teachers are increasing and expanding. Another survey about the language attitude of ethnic minorities’college students in western Yunnan（Wang，2008）indicates thatmost ethnic minority students think the ethnic language is quite intimate to them，the standard Chinese is quite practical to them and English is in a relatively awkward position because of practicality and difficulty in study. It seems they have complicated feeling on standard Chinese，English and ethnic language：they have the clear awareness of the importance of standard Chinese and English in their future career development；however，most students emotionally think they and their offspring all should learn their ethnic language and they all hope can maintain and use ethnic language at the same time learning Chinese and English well（Wang，2008，p82）. The above two surveys are mainly did in the ethnic minority areas where the ethnic language is widely used and well protected. After leaving ethnic minority areas and experiencing the metropolitan life，facing the different choice and pressure，what is their view and attitude to their ethnic language？Is it the same as the students study and live in the ethnic minority areas？The following research of questionnaires will show the view and attitude of ethnic minorities’students who have left hometown and lived in metropolis.

Presentation

Questionnaires（n= 186）were sent to students from 28 provinces，including students from 28 ethnic minority groups，21 academic majors and 4 grades in Minzu university. Ten questions related to the view of ethnic language were asked except the first four questions to the minorities’students. Statistical results of theses 11 questions will be listed in the tables：

Table 1：Can you speak ethnic language？

Table 2：Have you ever accepted the education taught in ethnic language or bilingual language？

Table 3：What is the reason of your accepting the education taught in Chinese？

Table 4：why haven’t you accepted education taught in ethnic language or bilingual language？

Table 5：What is the current situation of your ethnic language？

Table 6：What’s your feeling of your ethnic language？

Table 7：Have you ever thought chosen themajor related to your ethnic language when you have passed the college entrance examination？

Table 8：What is the reason of you ever thought to choose the major related your ethnic language when you have passed the college entrance examination？

Table 9：What’s the reason why you have not thought of choosing the major related your ethnic language when you have passed the college entrance examination is？

Table 10：Which opinion you agree more？

Table 11：What is your view about the future of your ethnic language？

Analysis

From the above presentation of the questionnaires that have been conducted in Minzu University，it can be found from table 1 that almost half ofminority students cannot speak their ethnic languages in Minzu University of China.Table 2 shows another fact thatmore than 80 percent of them have accepted the education only taught in Chinese before they came into the university，the result of table 2 have shown，it should be one important reason thatwhy almost half of ethnicminorities’students cannot speak their own language.Table 3 and table 4 pointed the reasons why so much ethnic minorities’students accepted education only taught in Chinese，it shows that if there are ethnic language schools or there are ethnic language classes in school，it is the most important factor that seems to greatly influence their language master，the practicality of the ethnic language is the second influenced factor and the parents’ideas is also an factor that cannot be ignored，especially for students whose parents support them studying their ethnic language. The students themselves’will also be an important factor.

Tables 5 to 11 mainly revealed the view and attitude of the students to their ethnic language. Table 5 shows the students’eyes’current situation of their ethnic language and the resultsmanifested that almost 80 percent of them think the future prospect of their ethnic language is not optimistic. Table 6 shows the students’feeling of their ethnic language：72 percent of them feel they are proud of their language；however，about 25 percent of them think their language has lost value or they feel ashamed of their ethnic language.Table 7 to 10 is the inves-tigation of the value of the ethnic language in these ethnic students’eyes and table 7 has shown that nearly 80 percent of them never thought of choosing amajor related to their ethnic language when they are admitted by the Minzu university of China.There nearly 20 percent of them have not thought because of no major in Minzu University related their ethnic language. Table 8 shows less than 10 percent of the students ever have the thought of choosing amajor linked with their ethnic language most because of the love to their ethnic culture，and table 9 shows that a very important reason why themost of students never thought of choosing amajor is for the consideration of their future career and development. The statistic from table 10 further improved the conclusion of table 9. Table 12 is set for investigating the view of the students to their ethnic language’s future development：almost half of the students think we should respect the regular development of their ethnic language；almost 30 percent of them think it should be well protected and widely educated their ethnic language to others or next generation and about 10 percent of them indicate that they never think about this question or don’t care this issue.

Compared with the two investigations of the view and attitude the students come from inner Mongolia（Zhan＆Ding，2004）and southern Yunnan（Wang，2008，p82），there are many common characteristics such as some students among them learn ethnic language because of the love and affection to their ethnic language，their confusion that they should or shouldn’t learn ethnic language comes from the pressure of future employment and the consideration of the practicality of ethnic language. However，frankly speaking，as an ethnic minority studentwho cannot speak her own ethnic language，the results of this investigation are upsetting me. By contrast to the view of these two areas’students’，the students come from the Minzu University seem relatively underrate the importance of ethnic language as a characteristics while care the practicality and the benefit the ethnic language can take in their future career and development more. For example，in the investigation of the ethnic minorities’view on studying ethnic language，Chinese and English，the students came from southern Yunnan think the ethnic language is very cordial to them，the standard Chinese is very practical to them and English is in a relatively awkward position because of practicality and difficulty in study. However，most of students of Minzu University clear that they prefer to study English and Chinese aswell as practical and popular major than ethnic language. It may because the pressure of job hunting in Beijing is greater than Mongolia and southern Yunnan.

Conclusion

The survey shows us an undeniable fact to some extent that the students from Minzu University are gradually neglecting their ethnic language most because of the consideration of their career planning and future development aswell as the other reasons such as lack of the environment of studying ethnic language，the influences of parents in choosing schools，and the inadequate bilingual education in many of ethnic minority ares，just as the result shown in table 2 and 3. In addition，the location of these three student groups is also an important reason. Beijing is internationalmetropolis while Yunnan and Mongolia is western location that is relatively remote and underdeveloped. It means that students in Beijing have more opportunities and broad vision to connect and communicate with the worldwide and they need more of cuttingedge knowledge and most common and practical languages，while the ethnic emotion and the deep ethnic culture they possess still play important roles in thewest location，in which the traditional and ethnic culture is relatively well protected. However，linked to others relative research，it still seems a trend in the Chinese ethnic groups as well as other ethnic groups in the world that they are gradually indifferent to their ethnic language and the result is some languages will finally distinct. No matter what theory we have insisted，from the angle of keeing the richness and diversity of culture，I think some action should be taken to try to keep and save the endangered language，such as investing a large amount ofmoney to culture some people to research and record this ethnic language and it should appropriately strengthen the position the ethnic language education in whole education system. Because of the time constraints，the insufficient research，irrational questionnaire structure，insufficient number of questionnaires and some subjective estimation deviation，the research material and the information gain from questionnaire cannot strongly support the view ofmine. And few effective suggestions were put forward. Itmay be ameaningful research topic of how to well resolve the ethnicminority’s，especially the minority’s elite’employment problems as well as urge them to learning ethnic language actively.

References

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关于中央民族大学非民族语言专业学生民族语言学习的研究

乔国存

（中国社会科学院研究生院，北京100049）

[摘要］本文通过对中央民族大学非民族语言专业的同学对民族语言掌握现状、民族语言受教育经历、对本民族语言感性和理性的态度以及对民族语言未来的看法等角度的调研，对比来自内蒙古和滇西地区少数民族学生语言观的调研，分析远离家乡来到大都市的少数民族大学生的语言观问题。

[关键词］语言态度；民族语言观；少数民族大学生

【注释】

[1]乔国存，女，中国社会科学院研究生院民族系硕士研究生，主要研究方向为民族理论与民族政策研究。

[2]Statement：all direct citations in this paper are the translated materials of Chinese paper thatwas translated by the author.