An Ecolinguistic Reading Of Minority Languages In China: Status Que And Countermeasures

This thesis is a study on language policy and planning in shaping language diversity and preserving the endangered languages in China from the perspective of ecolinguistics. It aims to understand the relationship between ecolinguistics and language planning and policy, to realize the relationship between biological diversity and linguistic diversity as well as to be aware of the endangerment of language phenomena in China. Thus, it also applies the language policy and planning to maintain language diversity and endangered language in China on the fundamental of language ecology and explore the solutions from the linguistics, educators, activists and policy-makers.Theoretically, this study gives a thorough review of researches on the development of ecolinguistics and the language planning and policy derived from the ecolinguistics. Practically, the result of this research will give those who are doing research and making policies on language planning a fresh idea on the language reality of the ethnic groups and suggestions so as to bear a just, fair and sound attitude and effective intervening towards the extinction of languages in China and build an harmonious environment of Chinese language in the long run. The methodological significance of this study lies in its sociolinguistic approach and semi-structure interview approach. Each approach examined the language ecology at a different level. The sociolinguistic profile aimed to show linguistic ecological relationships and patterns of languages uses. The semi-structure interviews and focus groups provided a means of evincing the minority language users in the same level.Apart from Chapter one, there are five parts in this paper. Chapter two gives literature review of the study. Chapter three depicts the diversity from biology to linguistics and language diversity phenomena in China. The issue of endangerment of minority languages has been mentioned. Chapter Four involves the empirical study of minority language. It includes the research design, method procedure, result and the analysis of the data with the help of the charts. On the basis of the motivation of planning for minority language and the data collected, Chapter Five aims to explore measures and efforts offered to preserve the Minority language. The linguists, educators, activists and the government policies play an important role in language planning such as protect the minorities and foster the traditional minority cultures. Chapter Six is the concluding chapter which provides the solution of language policy and planning from two levels to preserve the endangered language.