Chinese Discourse Study On Language Policy Of Xinjiang In People’s Daily

Xinjiang is a multi-ethnic region, and Xinjiang’s language policy is an integral part of China’s language policy. Among the 13 aboriginal ethnic groups living in Xinjiang, Han, Hui and Manchu use Chinese language and letters, whereas Uyghur, Kazak, Kirgiz, Mongolian and Xibo have their own spoken and written languages. Due to daily close interaction among the different ethnic groups, learning languages of other ethnic groups has become a widespread phenomenon on this region. Since the founding of New China, the Chinese Communist Party and the central government have developed a series of policies to safeguard the rights and freedom of all the ethnic groups to use and develop their own spoken and written languages, and these policies constitute the main contents of the language policy in Xinjiang.Based on the theoretical framework of Chinese Discourse Studies, using the 74 reports about the language policy in Xinjiang in the People’s Daily from 1949 until 2014 as the data, and the development and historical changes of the language policy in Xinjiang as a process of discourse events, this study analyzes the internal factors of discourse from the aspects of discourse subject, discourse media, discourse content, and discusses its historical changes to reveal the characteristics of discourse about Xinjiang language policy.Through the detailed and in depth analysis, this study reveals that since the founding of New China,the country maintains a high degree of attention to the language policy in Xinjiang. The discourse subjects have developed continuously with diversification, though the relevant government units and the national leaders become the main part of the discourse subjects, ordinary citizens also have certain rights to speak; discourse contents are constantly enriched, the formulation, development, and implementation of the language policy have been changed significantly; discourse media presented diversity.