RIFLESSI POLITICI DELLA RIFORMA DELLA LINGUA IN CINA

In: Il politico: rivista italiana di scienze politiche ; rivista quardrimestrale, Band 21, Heft 3, S. 598-607

Abstract

The problem of linguistic reform in China is complicated by the fact that it has 2 aspects: (1) a uniform spoken language & (2) a written language. Efforts to universalize the use of pai hua (Pekinese, which is also the language of the classics) are closely connected with attempts to modernize the country itself. It is necessary to distinguish between the bourgeois (Hu Shis) & revolutionary reformers, such as the prophet Ch'en Tu-Hsin, who assigned to linguistic reform an important role In the Communist revolution. At this time, the success of the spoken language is almost attained, for pai hua is being used more & more throughout China. The promblem of the written language is more complex.- the knowledge of 2,000 characters (of some 40,000) is actually considered indispensable as a basic alphabet, posing not only a problem of scholarship, but also raising difficulties in the functioning of modern methods of communication & thought. Attempts to simplify it are not new; however, it was not until 1955 that a methodical plan of modernization was established. If linguistic reform is only one of the testing grounds of the new regime, its pol'al importance is still considerable. Tr from IPSA.