IALP 2020, Kuala Lumpur, Dec 4-6, 2020 When Dialects Disappear: A Report of PPLRC in Henan Province Lei Wang Huibin Zhuang School of Foreign Languages School of Culture and Communication Sun Yat-sen University Shandong University 135 Xingang Xi Road, Guangzhou, 510275, P. R. China 180 Wenhua Xilu, Weihai 264209, P. R. China [email protected] [email protected] Abstract--In the years 2016 to 2019, our team has adopting uniform language questionnaires, consistent investigated dialects in 13 sites of Henan Province. In terms of technic forms and standards to preserve the language dialect classification, 12 dialects belong to Zhongyuan resources, the project aims to guarantee precision in paper Mandarin and 1 dialect (Hebi dialect) belongs to the Jin recordings and high-quality in data storage. Language. In accordance with the administrative division, there are 8 prefecture-level cities, 2 county-level cities and 3 Therefore, the project is considered to be significant in counties. This report is going to demonstrate the work we have both effective language preservation and further language done on our project (Project for the Protection of Language presentation and study. In addition, Tian [1] takes the Resources of China) in Henan. We mainly show the situation position that the PPLRC is of profound and practical of Henan dialects, the literature concerned, and our fieldwork. significance for its implementation helps to make a good Key words--Henan dialects; PPLRC; subject; materias; command of our national language situations, to protect our procedure national language resources, to inherit and carry forward traditional Chinese culture and to render service to state-building and development strategies. I. BACKGROUND AND THE PPLRC II. CLASSIFICATION AND PRESENT SITUATION OF HENAN Language is the carrier of human civilization, the key DIALECTS to communication and a bridge for cultural exchange. According to the Language Atlas of China [5] and the Nowadays, language is considered to be an important Local Gazetteer of Henan [6], Henan dialects can mainly be cultural resource and the vital component of the intangible classified into two types, namely, Zhongyuan Mandarin and culture. It has played a profound role in the transmission of the Jin Language. They are distinguished by the existence culture and the protection of cultural diversity [1,2]. of entering tones, which are commonly featured with a However, with the proceeding of modernization and glottal stop [ʔ] at the end of a syllable. That is to say, urbanization, the minority languages as well as Chinese syllables in the former type are without entering tones dialects are changing in an unprecedented way. It is whereas those in the latter one have entering tones. They reported that of approximant 130 existing languages in occupy different parts of the Province: China, 68 languages are used by a population fewer than 10,000; 48 are used fewer than 5,000 and 25 are used fewer In the northern part, which is adjacent to Shanxi than 1,000. Province, resides the Jin Language. It covers 19 cities and counties such as Xinxiang, Linzhou, Jiaozuo, and so forth. Such grave situation gives rise to the launch of the Zhongyuan Mandarin, or Central Plain Mandarin, takes up Project for the Protection of Language Resources of China the majority of the middle area, ranging 111 cities and (henceforth the PPLRC) in 2015 by the Ministry of counties, for instance, Kaifeng, Zhoukou, Luohe, etc. Education of China and State Language Commission. This project is a continuation, extension and upgrading of the Zhongyuan Mandarin also takes up a fairly larger area establishment of the Audio Database of Language in regard to the southern part. However, things goes Resources of China and it succeeds the collaborative work different when it comes to the dialects in Xinyang region. pattern of the database with the participation of the Ye [7,8] refers to this region as a “dialect mixing zone”. By government, the professionals and the public [3,4]. The taking into consideration linguistic factors as well as project plans to conduct a nation-wide field survey of 1,500 historical, geographical, economic and cultural factors, he dialect sites from 2015 to 2019, attempting to believes that even though Zhongyuan Mandarin holds most comprehensively cover both Chinese dialects and the part of the region, the dialects used in Guangshan and minority language resources. All the linguistic items Xinxian belong to Jianghuai Mandarin (or Eastern investigated in this project are not only recorded in paper Mandarin) and those in Gushi and Shangcheng but also stored in video. Up to 2019, over 350 universities Southwestern Mandarin. and research institutions, 1,000 survey teams and 4,500 The present situation of Henan dialects allows of no professional and technical personnel have participated in optimism. Xu [9] points out that the accelerating process of the project. This survey is by far referred to as one of urbanization results in higher and higher population world’s largest language resource protection project. By 978-1-7281-7689-5/20/$31.00 c 2020 IEEE 141 mobility. More and more people adopt Putonghua for investigation in Henan dialects on a large scale and is of effective communication, giving rise to a situation where enormous historical value. both the scope of dialect and the number of dialect users are In the second stage, He [11] has made the greatest getting smaller and smaller. Such phenomenon is even more contribution to the study of Henan dialects. In his A Study of common in big cities, for example, teenagers tend to use the Huojia Dialect, he makes a comprehensive and detailed Putonghua to communicate with their family members and description of the Huojia dialect not only from the friends; young parents prefer to teach children Putonghua as phonological level, but also from the lexical and first language. They hold the view that Putonghua is grammatical level. Besides, the descriptions of rime change superior to dialects, that one who speaks dialects in and grammatical functions in this monograph are communication would be regarded as less educated and considered to have exerted certain influence on the method even illiterate, and that children might be negatively of dialect studies. transferred to speak poor Putonghua if they acquire dialects as first language. Besides, lack of successors in folk culture In the 21st century, sound studies of Henan dialects and the disappearance of certain traditional dramas are also have a broader coverage and become even more specified. factors that cause Henan dialects to run into crisis. These studies, can mainly be classified into three categories: (1) those that are carried out in traditional dialectology, (2) III. THE PPLRC IN HENAN PROVINCE those in sociolinguistics, and (3) those in experimental For three year’s filed work from 2016 to 2018, Henan linguistics. Province has successfully completed paper recordings as 1. Studies in Traditional Dialectology well as audio-visual recordings in 23 dialect sites. The project in Henan Province is undertaken by Henan Fieldwork, phonological descriptions and comparisons University, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, are three methods the most frequently adopted in traditional Henan Normal University, Luoyang Institute of Science and dialectology. Based on the three methods, researchers have Technology and Xinyang Vocational and Technical College. gradually established a three-step model. To put it precisely, Of the 23 dialect sites, 4 sites (Linzhou, Xinxiang, Wenxian firstly, on the basis of fieldwork, first-hand dialect materials and Hebi) belong to the coverage the Jin Language and 19 of a particular place are obtained to guarantee the reliability sites belong to the range of Zhongyuan Mandarin. and validity of the research; after a manual discrimination and organization, a relative correct phonological structure is Among the 23 sites, more than half of them (13 sites) identified; hence, phonological comparisons of initials and are conducted by Henan University. According to the first finals are respectively made between the Middle Chinese level administrative division, Henan Province is divided and a particular dialect to explore the diachronic changes of into five parts, i.e. Yuzhong, which is the middle part, sound, and comparisons between a particular dialect and its Yudong the east part, Yuxi the west part, Yubei the north neighboring dialects (or Putonghua) to explore the part and Yunan the south part. These 13 sites roughly cover synchronic changes. the whole province except Yuxi. In other words, there are 4 sites investigated in Yudong (Kaifeng and Lankao in 2016, By using this model step by step, scientific and reliable Shangqiu and Yongcheng in 2017 and Zhoukou in 2018); 3 conclusions are finally drawn. However, some problems sites in Yuzhong (Luohe, Xuchang and Changge in 2018); 2 may still exist, for instance, with the merit of language sites in Yubei (Hebi and Xunxian in 2017) and 3 sites in intuition as native speakers but the limitation of time and Yunan (Zhumadian in 2017, Nanyang and Biyang in 2018). financial support, certain researchers, especially In accordance with the second level administrative division, postgraduate students, prefer to make phonological the 13 sites are re-divided into 8 prefecture-level cities investigations in their own hometown and write articles or (Kaifeng, Shangqiu, Zhoukou, Luohe, Xuchang, Hebi, theses with comprehensive descriptions but less theoretical Nanyang and Zhumadian), 2 county-level cities explanations. (Yongcheng and Changge) and 3 counties (Lankao, Xunxian and Biyang). In so doing, on the one hand, those investigations have greatly enriched the basic phonological descriptions of each A. Literature Work certain dialect, contributing to the preservation of the present local dialect; on the other hand, the essence of Before we start our project in Henan province, we sound change is hardly exposed. In other words, even made a careful literature review on Previous Sound Studies though there are a great many of articles and theses on Henan dialects.