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Overview
The Chinese language, spoken by over one billion people, has undergone drastic changes over the past century. This book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date account of the development of Modern Chinese from the late nineteenth century to the 1990s. It describes and analyzes in detail, from historical and sociolinguistic perspectives, the establishment and promotion of Modern Spoken Chinese and Modern Written Chinese, and the reform of the Chinese script, and reveals the interaction of linguistic, historical and social factors in the recent development of the language.
Synopsis
This book describes the development of Modern Chinese from the late nineteenth century to the 1990s.
New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies - Ellen Soulliere
Ping Chen s Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics is a very valuable book. Grounded in the tradition of Chinese philology and Western linguistics, Chen provides an unusually deft and clear-sighted synthesis and presentation of complex material. He creates and applies a series of conceptual frameworks for the description and analysis of the Chinese language. He marshals a wealth of detail which helps him to place linguistic issues in a wider social and historical context. His broad comparative perspective draws attention both to the features which Chinese shares with other languages, and those which are unique to the Chinese case Chen Ping s thoughtful work sets a new standard for the discourse in English on the Chinese language.
Editorials
Daniel Kane
Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics is an excellent book, placing the development of modern Chinese in its social and historical context… Until the publication of Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics, there was no comprehensible, serious, linguistically sophisticated analysis of such matters for students of Chinese… Its publication is a great step forward for Chinese language studies and linguistics. It should be prescribed reading for all advanced students.—Higher Education, The Australian
Ellen Soulliere
Ping Chen’s Modern Chinese: History and Sociolinguistics is a very valuable book. Grounded in the tradition of Chinese philology and Western linguistics, Chen provides an unusually deft and clear-sighted synthesis and presentation of complex material. He creates and applies a series of conceptual frameworks for the description and analysis of the Chinese language. He marshals a wealth of detail which helps him to place linguistic issues in a wider social and historical context. His broad comparative perspective draws attention both to the features which Chinese shares with other languages, and those which are unique to the Chinese case… Chen Ping’s thoughtful work sets a new standard for the discourse in English on the Chinese language.— New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies