An Analysis of <i>the Project of Protecting Chinese Language Resources</i> Using Cooper’s Accounting Scheme

Abstract

This paper utilized Cooper’s accounting scheme to analyze the policy of “the Project of Protecting Chinese Language Resources” or Yubao (中国语言资源保护工程 or 语保) to date. We suggest that the project has achieved outstanding effect on preserving Chinese regional varieties, while further work on living language protection and cultural inheritance is still in progress. In order to further implement the language protection project, we contend that: (1) humans are at the core of the linguistic ecosystem, and each element is not isolated or static; (2) “the Scientific Protection of the Language and Characters of All Nationalities” can synchronize with “the Promotion of the National Common Language”. The key lies in scientifically devising the functional division of different languages and dialects. In the recent decades, rapid economic and social development has weakened the communicative function of local dialects and, to some extent, affected the prestige and the cultures they represent. It is advocated that public confidence in local culture should be boosted through balancing regional economy and developing distinctive cultures, so that citizens can spontaneously become a living force in the inheritance of their mother tongue and culture.