Reflections on Some Key Sino-English Linguistic Terms

Reflections on Some Key Sino-English Linguistic Terms
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Reflections on Some Key Sino-English Linguistic Terms
The article, “What Is a Chinese “Dialect/Topolect?” Reflections on Some Key Sino-English Linguistic Terms (1991)” is examining the Chinese linguistics as well as the international fields of Sino-Tibetan. It presents an assumption that the Chinese language may undergo a new classification framework. (Mair, 1991) proposed that the word ‘topolect’ should be a neutral translation of fangyan. The main argument in this article is the classification of different living languages.
The author gives the different classification of the Chinese language. The first classification is the significant families who are from the same parent language. They are composed of the Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Indian, American, African, among others (Mair, 1991). The second classification is the “groups,” which are found in the families. They are composed of the Indic, the Romance, the Celtic, the Iranians, the Helenic, and the Germanic. The third classification is the Sino-Tibetan language family, which has the Sinitic and the Tai groups. The last level of these classifications is the “branch,” which is closely related to the group. According to his investigations, the natural tongues of the world have six classifications which are categorized from the largest to the smallest; family, group, branch, language, dialect, and sub-dialect.
Victor also addresses three main problems; the proper English translation of fangyan, the best word to refer to the Chinese language, and the real meaning behind the Chinese language. He argues that it is inappropriate to refer to fangyan as a dialect; rather, it should be a separate language since dialects are subdivisions of languages. He also gives a solution to the disagreement between fangyan as a language or a dialect. He says that we should...