#the fusion of unlike but translationally equatable terms to create something new
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So the other day I posted some linguistics terms vocab, basic terms that I was curious about. And I looked up ādialectā and my dictionary gave me ę¹čØ fÄngyĆ”n, which I didnāt really question. Like fine, sure, ālocal speech,ā that makes sense as what we call ādialectā in English.
But I just watched this lecture on YouTube called āHow Fangyan became Dialectsā by historian Dr. Gina Anne Tam and turns out thatās a very loaded assumption! Because basically thereās a long history of the sort of mismatch(?) between western terms for describing linguistic varieties (languages, dialects, vernaculars, etc etc) and those used in China. Iād definitely heard other Chinese languages such as Cantonese or Hokkien described as dialects, and this mistranslation or misrepresentation of ę¹čØ is a major part of this problem.
The idea of language vs. dialect is a complex one, and these terms in Chinese languages donāt map 1-to-1 onto existing European-language ones. Linguists in the 19th and 20th century struggled with this and often made comparisons to what they knew from Europe, imposing distinctions and hierarchies that didnāt necessarily exist prior. Language and nationalism in Europe during these years is also super interesting and something Iāve read some about, and it makes sense then that westerners would be confused by a country with many forms of speaking when Europe was (and still is?) drawing up borders along linguistic+national+ethnic lines.
The development of nationalism in China through the 20th century led to further changes in the idea of a national language, especially with the promotion of first åčŖ in the Republican era and ę®éčÆ under the Communist government.
Itās interesting that what used to be a term for a regionās language can now be used in a hierarchical way to subordinate certain linguistic varieties to others. Dr. Tam mentioned that there was an article that generated controversy years ago that said that since Cantonese was a ę¹čØ that is wasnāt fit to be taught and couldnāt be considered anyoneās ęÆčÆ mĒyĒ (mother language), that instead all Chinese people must learn and use ę®éčÆ, the national standard. This idea of course coming from the implications that ę¹čØ now has, that itās āmerelyā a dialect, that dialects arenāt āfullā languages, that theyāre inferior or incomplete or whatever.
Dr. Tam had a nicer way of phrasing this, but terminology is so important because these definitionsāwhich may seem inconsequential, like weāre squabbling over minor issues that mean littleāinfluence how we perceive and think, which in turn influences how we interact with the world. If a ę¹čØ is just a dialect, and dialects are lower than languages, and Cantonese is a ę¹čØ, that means Cantonese is lesser. Thatās a ālogicalā conclusion one can make, just a syllogism of X is Y, Y is Z, therefore X is Z (Cantonese is a ę¹čØ, ę¹čØ is lesser, Cantonese is lesser). But that ālogicalā conclusion starts from a very very flawed premise, this definition which presupposes a hierarchy that doesnāt really exist linguistically (but then does exist socially and is justified by these āscientificā or ālogicalā reasons).
All that to say, this was a super interesting lecture (about her book that I might have to read!) and if you have time I would totally recommend giving it a watch. These terms are interesting and complex and nuanced, and knowing more about the history is really enlightening. Iāve been getting into language and identity lately, reading a lot about nationalism and race and the idea of ānative speakers.ā It feels like, while in other areas we might have made social progress, that language is one area that many people are super unaware of and take for granted their own biases without understanding these power structures and their histories.
Anyways Iād be curious to hear what anyone else has to say on the topic! And definitely if you watch her lecture let me know what you think!
#they covered a lot of other stuff in there too#Iām particularly interested in a topic they brought up regarding translation called a supersign#where basically X and Y terms in two languages arenāt equal but rather through translation create a supersign#two unlike signs are synthesized into a supralinguistic form that contains both of them#idk that was how I understood what they said anyway#Iāll have to read more on that too#the researcher for that is named Lydia Liu#if anyoneās read Babel#Iām willing to put money that the author has eead liuās work#like the premise of Babel was exactly that#the fusion of unlike but translationally equatable terms to create something new#oof anyways wrote more than I meant to lol#linguistics#mandarin#cantonese#ę®éčÆ#å½čÆ#ę¹čØ#ę±čÆ#äøę#å¹æäøčÆ#ē²¤čÆ#translation
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