[Definition of Putonghua]
According to the accepted definition of Putonghua, Putonghua takes Beijing dialect as the standard pronunciation, northern dialect as the basic dialect and modern vernacular as the standard grammatical language.
However, is this definition really so absolutely correct?
For this definition, we can verify its scientific accuracy through a simple disproof. If this definition is correct, then the reverse should be correct, that is to say, according to the definition of Putonghua, it must be Putonghua with a pure Beijing accent, a pure northern dialect vocabulary and a standard modern vernacular grammar.
But in fact, this is not the case. It is still not Putonghua that is spoken according to the strict standards in the definition of Putonghua! In other words, with a pure Beijing accent, with a pure northern dialect vocabulary and standard modern vernacular grammar, it is still not Mandarin! Even a native of Beijing, what he says in the standard grammar of modern Chinese vernacular is not equal to Mandarin. This can be verified by anyone, and this is the fact. This clearly shows that the definition of Putonghua is not rigorous enough.
So, what exactly is Mandarin? This problem deserves our reflection. This is a puzzle to China people by the definition of Putonghua. With such confusion, it is necessary to re-examine what Mandarin is.
[Textual research on the history of common folk words]
From the perspective of phonetic textual research, the standard Putonghua with phonetic records can be traced back to Aisin Giorro Puyi in the late Qing Dynasty and the documentary of the trial by the Far East military court, among which there are doubts that Puyi speaks standard Putonghua instead of old Beijing dialect. Then, the time when Putonghua was designed should be before Puyi's life.
From the textual research of records, the following information can also prove that Putonghua was designed before the end of the Qing Dynasty:
The history of Putonghua that can be verified;
The word "Mandarin" was put forward in the late Qing Dynasty. Wu Rulun is considered to be the first scholar to mention the name Putonghua.
1909 (Xuantongyuan Year), Jiang Qian, a member of the Senior Advisory Committee, formally proposed to name Mandarin as "Mandarin".
In the same year, the Qing Dynasty established the "Mandarin Editorial Committee";
19 10, Jiang Qian once again put forward the view that "Putonghua and consonants should be combined to achieve a unified effect" in "Notes on Putonghua Education in Interrogation for Several Years".
19 1 1 year, the Ministry of Education held the "Central Education Conference" and adopted the Measures for the Unification of Putonghua.
After the founding of the Republic of China, 19 13 held the "Phonetic Unification Conference" in Beijing in February, and 1965438 edited and published the National Phonetic Dictionary in September.
Due to the contradiction between the phonetic standard of Guoyin Dictionary and that of Beijing, the "Beijing Debate" broke out in 1920.
Zhang Shiyi, director of the English Department of Nanjing Normal University, published the article "Unification of National Languages" on 1920, arguing that phonetic symbols and national sounds should be fundamentally reformed, national sounds should not be recognized, and Beijing sounds should be taken as the standard of national sounds, which has been echoed by many people. The National Education Federation and the primary schools affiliated to the Jiangsu Teachers' Federation successively made resolutions to take Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation and began to promote it in schools. 1965438+April 2 1, in 2009, Beiyang = = established the Preparatory Committee for Unified Mandarin, and 1928 National = = changed it to the Preparatory Committee for Unified Mandarin. 1932 in may, the Ministry of education officially announced and published the "common vocabulary of Chinese pronunciation", which provided a model for establishing the standard of putonghua.
In People's Republic of China (PRC) period, after 1955, the word "Mandarin" was used instead of "Mandarin".
The word "Putonghua" was used by some linguists in the late Qing Dynasty and was first put forward by Zhu in 1906. Later, li jinxi, Qu Qiubai and Lu Xun discussed "Putonghua" in succession.
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), in order to show respect for minority languages and avoid possible misunderstanding caused by the name "Putonghua", the National Character Reform Conference and the Academic Conference on Standardization of Modern Chinese held in June 1955 decided to name the standardized modern Chinese as "Putonghua" and determined the definition and standard of Putonghua. Among them, the word "ordinary" means "universal" and "* * *". At the "National Conference on Chinese Character Reform" held in 1955, Zhang Xiruo said: "People in China have used the same language for a long time, and now it is called Putonghua, which needs to be further standardized and determined. What is this kind of Han homophonic which has actually gradually formed? This is Putonghua with northern dialect as the basic dialect and Beijing accent as the standard pronunciation. For simplicity, the native language can also be called Mandarin. " 1982 the constitution of People's Republic of China (PRC) clearly stipulates: "the state promotes putonghua which is commonly used throughout the country."
These textual researches show that Putonghua appeared in the late Qing Dynasty or earlier. However, at that time, China's theoretical level of phonology and the development level of vernacular Chinese were not consistent with the definition of Putonghua. According to the theoretical level at that time, how to design the language defined by Putonghua? Assuming that Mandarin is designed, there must be someone or a group specially designed it. However, there has never been a statement about who designed Putonghua. The fact that Putonghua is a natural language, not an artificial language, has been recognized all over the world. As a natural language speaker, all the evidence points to Manchu rulers.
[Basic idea]
Why is Mandarin a "Manchu-speaking China" rather than a "Manchu-influenced China"? The main points are as follows:
1, China people's Putonghua, Republic of China's Putonghua and Manchu's Putonghua are one language, with the same accent, but not different languages.
2. The most pure accent of Manchu's "Mandarin" is the accent of Manchu, the ruler group of China, and Manchu is the orthodox speaker of Manchu's "Mandarin";
3. Manchu is the main language of Manchu before entering the customs, and Manchu is the mother tongue of Manchu. The replacement of Manchu mother tongue shows that Manchu's "national language" is Chinese that Manchu can learn to speak.
In fact, to demonstrate what language Mandarin is, the most important thing is to judge the people who speak Mandarin, not the phonetic features of Mandarin.
[Beijing dialect 400 years ago: Xiajiang Mandarin]
Beijing has experienced many dynasty changes since its establishment. How many changes have taken place in Beijing dialect since ancient times? How to change it? No one has really verified this question until now. Historically, Matteo Ricci, a missionary from Italy, recorded a large number of Beijing dialects in the late Ming Dynasty in Roman Pinyin more than 400 years ago, and these records are still preserved today. It can be clearly seen from Li's records that Beijing dialect at that time was a language with a large number of entering tones and no warping sounds such as zh, ch and sh. This shows that Beijing dialect at that time was neither Beijing dialect nor Mandarin now, because neither Beijing dialect nor Mandarin has these characteristics. At the same time, it also shows that the history of Beijing dialect and Putonghua is no more than 400 years. Beijing dialect 400 years ago was the official language of the Ming Dynasty (textual research for Xiajiang Mandarin? )。 Matteo Ricci's records also completely denied the lie that Confucian saints disappeared before the Ming Dynasty.
[Beijing has a second language: Manchu]
After the Manchus entered Beijing, for political purposes such as community security, the Manchus drove away all the Han people within 10 miles around the Forbidden City, and the outside of the Forbidden City 10 miles was called the inner city and the outer city of Beijing. As a result, there are two communities in Beijing: Manchu community and Han community, which are very distinct in class, language and living area, and Beijing has two languages: Ming Dynasty Mandarin and Manchu. Any language is integrated with the crowd. At that time, the regional differences between the two languages in Beijing were Manchu in the inner city and Mandarin in the outer city.
[Manchu-Manchu distinction]
Our analysis of language and its expressive objects is based on a basic linguistic theorem: language is consistent with social practice. It is social practice that determines language, not language that determines social practice. That is to say, if a language has a saying, it must have the kind of life practice expressed by this saying. For example, there is a word "coconut" in Manchu, and there must be a fruit "coconut" in the life practice of Manchu people.
Before the rule of China, Manchu was a nomadic mountaineer in the north, and their living environment was completely different from that of the Central Plains. Manchu was formed in such an environment, with a short history. Moreover, the life history of Manchu people has never experienced the social practice of advanced science, technology and art like China for thousands of years. This determines that Manchu does not have the ability to express life practice and China culture in China. Because Manchu is the language of northern nationalities, the primitive life of Manchu grassland jungle and the short history and culture of Manchu limit the maturity level of Manchu. It can be said that Manchu is a relatively primitive language, and its pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar are very primitive and immature. Even in Beijing, it is difficult for Manchu to meet the daily needs of Manchu people who have just gained the sovereignty of China. Many things in Beijing, such as animals and plants, buildings and daily necessities, are unheard of by Manchu people, so it is difficult to describe and communicate these things in Manchu. This is the case between Manchu and Han, and it is impossible for Manchu and Han to express clearly what they encounter in their daily lives. As for the use of advanced languages such as architectural engineering language, artistic language, medicine and other scientific and technological terms, it is even more difficult to express them. The situation at that time was that Manchu faced a crisis of being unable to communicate in Beijing. Facing the Chinese language with thousands of years' history, Manchu seized the political power of China, but its language was not competent for the mission of ruling China. However, as the ruler of China, Manchu had to face the political reality of using language. From the expression of daily life to the political needs of ruling China, Manchu people urgently need a language that can express their life around them well. It's too late for the Manchu reform. Manchu has no choice but to learn and imitate Chinese. Therefore, it is the only choice to use the language (including vocabulary and pronunciation) of the Han people in Beijing, so a third Beijing dialect-the poor Chinese spoken by Manchu (temporarily called Manchu) appeared.