Abstract
UNESCO has classified Manchu in Northeast China as a critically endangered language. Toponyms can act as carriers of languages and can be preserved for a long time. The Manchu language was the national language in the Qing Dynasty, and there are many Manchu place names in Northeast China that serve as “living heritages” that retain traces of ancient local cultures. We studied Manchu and other related ethnic place names in Northeast China by integrating spatial statistical measures using geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze the endangered languages in the region. The objective was to explore not only the distribution of ethnic toponyms within a relevant historical context but also the environmental factors associated with the endangered Manchu languages. This study reveals that the distributions of ethnic groups and languages can be revealed by the Sinification of ethnic toponyms in Northeast China. The evolution of spatial patterns of toponyms shows the interactive process between Manchus and Han Chinese. The Manchu language is endangered by the influences of Han Chinese migrants on the original culture, as reflected by crops and the distances to the nearest roads, which are indicators of farming culture and accessibility.
Highlights
The Manchu language was once the national language of China but is severely endangered
We found that the spatial distribution of place names with Manchu origins was within the Three Northeast Provinces
There are many ethnolinguistic origins of place names in Northeast China that are either pronounced with a Han accent or spelled in Chinese
Summary
The Manchu language was once the national language of China but is severely endangered. During the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644–1912), Manchu was the official language and was used by the government [1]. According to UNESCO, there were at least one million native speakers by the end of the Qing Dynasty, but among nearly ten million ethnic Manchus, there are only ten native Manchu speakers in Northeast China [2]. There have been few studies of the endangered Manchu language [4,5,6]. There are only a very small number of native speakers in Northeast China, which was the birthplace of Manchu, there are a large number of ethnolinguistic place names, in the Manchu language [7]. The name Jilin, which is the name of both the Jilin Province and its second-largest city, means “beyond the river” in the Manchu language because the city stands by the Songhua River [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
