李嵬

自2005年以來，中國政府發(fā)布了一系列中國社會生活中的語言使用狀況報告。這是中國在語言研究方面的重大進展，也引起了海外學界的極大關注。德國的德古意特出版社將這些報告中的一些文章譯成英文，并結(jié)集出版。這些報告重新將我們的注意力聚焦在社會政策與社會變化、語言使用和語言結(jié)構(gòu)的內(nèi)在聯(lián)系上。對于中國這樣的社會，這些聯(lián)系有著非凡的意義，可以說，任何實用性語言研究都需要認真、系統(tǒng)地考慮這些聯(lián)系。

最近，中國又出臺了很多對語言和語言研究產(chǎn)生直接和顯著影響的重要政策和措施。例如，“一帶一路”方略已經(jīng)吸引了許多語言學家和語言政策制定者的極大關注。另一項政策，我特別感興趣并且認為對語言研究有重要意義，是計劃生育政策，具體地說是城市地區(qū)放寬一對夫婦只生一個孩子的政策。

始于20世紀50年代的獨生子女政策是全面計劃生育政策的一部分。這項政策在20世紀80年代初的三、四年里被嚴格執(zhí)行。單就生育控制方面，這項政策似乎取得了明顯的成功：世界銀行的數(shù)據(jù)表明1990年至2000年間，中國的人口出生率從2.61（每育齡女性）降到1.45，低于大部分西方發(fā)達國家。據(jù)人口學家和中國問題觀察家的估計，中國在1980年至2010年間少生了2至4億人。

該政策帶來了廣泛而深遠的影響。據(jù)聯(lián)合國統(tǒng)計，這項政策導致中國家庭“4-2-1”結(jié)構(gòu)的出現(xiàn)。在中國，有三分之一的人口超過60歲，只有約48%的人口處于勞動年齡，老齡化現(xiàn)象非常嚴重。據(jù)美國中央情報局出版的《世界概況》，中國人口性別比例為119：100（男/女）。這些給經(jīng)濟（福利）、國家安全（軍隊）和文化（漢族與少數(shù)民族；城市和農(nóng)村） 帶來嚴重后果。

我主要關注的是一對夫婦生育一個孩子的政策對語言造成的影響，包括對語言使用和語言結(jié)構(gòu)產(chǎn)生的影響。這是一個尚未系統(tǒng)研究而非常值得關注的領域，目前既是對比展開實證研究的最佳時間。調(diào)查的重點首先是兒童語言習得和語言發(fā)展。很多語言學家認為人類先天就有學習語言的能力，語言輸入和學習環(huán)境對兒童語言習得和發(fā)展至關重要。我們同樣知道這樣一個事實，即孩子從照顧者那里獲得的關注度非常重要，從他們那里獲得的語言輸入模式也同樣重要。我們也知道，同伴互動對兒童成長非常關鍵，此外，性別也起著一定的作用。曾經(jīng)有研究者關注過中國傳統(tǒng)的育兒習俗，如將孩子背在母親的背上而不是將他們抱在前面，可能會減少孩子和作為主要看護者的母親之間的“共同注意”，也因此降低了對語言發(fā)展可能相當重要的輸入的質(zhì)和量?，F(xiàn)在，作為家里的獨生子，一個典型的中國孩子在家庭里可能得到了過多的關注。他們有大量的刺激物，如玩具、書籍、電視、電子產(chǎn)品、游戲等陪伴左右。但這并不意味著他們會有更多的“共同注意”，尤其是和父母的“共同注意”相對較少。事實是，他們接收到的語言模式在很大程度上是“成人”的，甚至是“老人”的，因為有祖父母參與其中。目前兒童的語言發(fā)展缺乏“同胞模式”，即沒有兄弟姐妹之間的互動，同胞互動與同伴互動有著根本性差異。這些現(xiàn)象與社會文化共同促使年幼的孩子出現(xiàn)明顯的早熟現(xiàn)象。我們在電視上看到這樣的例子，即除了一些智力競賽（如數(shù)學、常識，我只對語言有興趣），幼兒會因為他們能夠背誦上百首唐詩而得到獎勵。結(jié)果“小大人”常被看成兒童發(fā)展的成功典范，這在他們的日常語言行為中表現(xiàn)得尤為突出?！斑^度保護”“溺愛”或培養(yǎng)孩子的超前意識/目標，都會對語言產(chǎn)生嚴重的后果，對此我們需要進行系統(tǒng)的研究。

同胞互動的缺失帶來的語言影響值得特別關注。雖然有足夠的同齡人之間的交往，但這種交往屬于“陌生人間的互動”，在性質(zhì)上是非家族的、非親屬的。表面上看，他們?nèi)鄙倭朔墙y(tǒng)稱形式的親屬稱謂（如姑姑、舅舅等統(tǒng)稱形式的，如叔叔、阿姨等和這些不同）。我們還注意到，在幼兒園和校園環(huán)境，孩子們與非家庭成員的同齡人間交流的話題通常與家庭無關，幾乎不討論日常家庭生活。他們只能從大人那里獲取家庭生活方面的語言輸入。這必然會產(chǎn)生一定的長期影響。孩子們在幼兒園和學校那里得到的輸入模式往往來自于閱讀/文字材料、媒體和成人。我們有必要對此進行更深入的研究。

另一個獨生子女政策對語言產(chǎn)生特殊影響的領域或議題是隔代教養(yǎng)。我對隔代教養(yǎng)的關注已有一段時間，主要是因為我的研究重點在海外中國人社區(qū)。我們從過去的語言研究中得知，祖父母的角色在語言傳播、語言保持和語言轉(zhuǎn)換上至關重要。祖父母往往在保持本族語言、少數(shù)民族語言、 家庭語言或繼承語言方面起到關鍵作用。在海外的中國家庭中，祖父母經(jīng)常是中文輸入的主要來源，其中包括方言。我們曾對說客家話的家庭進行了研究，結(jié)果顯示，隨著祖父母的去世，其語言也隨之消亡，家人最終經(jīng)歷了語言的轉(zhuǎn)變。在當代獨生子女的中國家庭里，由于父母平時忙于工作和賺錢，爺爺奶奶在養(yǎng)育子女方面發(fā)揮著關鍵作用。在中國，祖父母以及成年陌生人（保姆）在育兒方面的參與度比世界任何一個地方都要多，這在一些西方國家是聞所未聞的。大多數(shù)城市的中國家庭由保姆和爺爺奶奶一起照顧孩子。有趣的是，方言傳承并沒有成為中國城市家庭生活的常態(tài)。即使爺爺奶奶可能是方言使用者，并且保姆也可能是，但小孩講的話通常仍是標準的或者至少是超地方的語言（超地方方言標準是方言學、歷史語言學和社會語言學研究的一個重大課題）。當前，人們對漢語標準語轉(zhuǎn)換普遍持積極態(tài)度。它可能不一定是普通話，而是一些地方標準語，但絕對不是地方方言。同時，人們對幼兒進行的所謂雙語教育也產(chǎn)生了極大的興趣，即讓他們學習英語，而且相信越早接觸英語越好。

不過，祖父母對兒童的影響，特別是對兒童語言發(fā)展的影響不僅在方言的保存上面。這還與老年人對年幼孩子的講話方式、詞匯的選擇和語法結(jié)構(gòu)有關。語言的變化主要通過代際交流發(fā)生。祖孫之間更多互動的結(jié)果可能是兩個非常不同的發(fā)展方向——聚合或離散。當兩代人相互學習并適應對方時會發(fā)生聚合，反之則離散。這是一個非常有趣的話題，值得繼續(xù)探索，該話題對某種語言的結(jié)構(gòu)變化也會造成實質(zhì)性影響。

還有許多議題和問題值得探討。例如，夫妻雙方都是獨生子女，他們之間的互動（“獨二代”之間的交流）問題（與兒童語言發(fā)展無關，但關乎成人語言的使用），不受獨生子女政策影響的少數(shù)民族語言之間的比較，城市和農(nóng)村之間語言的比較等，都值得探討。

隨著獨生子女生育政策的放寬，我們會看到一批二孩出現(xiàn)，有些二孩在第一個孩子出生10年后才出生。這樣的年齡差距會對孩子的語言發(fā)展和語言行為產(chǎn)生什么樣的影響，將成為未來研究的一個重要課題。

我上面所談到的研究是一個正在發(fā)展的研究領域，即“人口語言學”的一部分。人口語言學一方面關注人口的結(jié)構(gòu)和變化之間復雜的相互關系，另一方面聚焦于人口結(jié)構(gòu)和語言發(fā)展、語言變化、語言保持、語言轉(zhuǎn)變、語言規(guī)劃之間的關系。這不同于“語言人口學”，它主要研究語言分布在統(tǒng)計學上的解釋。

在過去的二十年中，人口語言學已成為人口學和語言學的國際性交叉學科。有些人甚至認為近期語言景觀方面的研究與其有所關聯(lián)或者是其延伸的內(nèi)容。人口語言學研究往往側(cè)重于家庭等私人領域內(nèi)語言的時空分布和動態(tài)；語言景觀研究，從字面意義上講，更關注公共領域，即街頭巷尾可見的語言。在這個意義上，語言景觀研究的結(jié)果不應該被視作某地區(qū)人口語言構(gòu)成的事實依據(jù)。

人口語言學研究的一個關注重點是某些語言而非“民族”語言的活力問題。在特定語境或視角下，這類語言常指少數(shù)民族語言或主流語言。因為數(shù)字分類與社會分類不一定重合，因此，對這些語言感興趣的研究人員討論數(shù)字但又不僅限于數(shù)字，除數(shù)字外還需考慮權力和意識形態(tài)問題。

在我進行的人口語言學研究中，我對人口的統(tǒng)計分布不太感興趣，這雖然是人口學作為一個調(diào)查領域的重要組成部分，但不是唯一的部分。我更感興趣的是人口素質(zhì)和在特定社區(qū)或社會中的人口構(gòu)成的本質(zhì)，即人口動態(tài)性。這是人口學研究的新潮流，可以用于分析任何形式的現(xiàn)居住人口的特征，即在時間和空間上的變化。它涵蓋了人口的規(guī)模、結(jié)構(gòu)、分布，以及因出生、遷移、老齡化、死亡所引起的空間或時間上的變化。的確，它往往會涉及定量問題——人口統(tǒng)計學，但人口學家當今所談論的大多數(shù)問題實際上都是與人口動態(tài)有關的社會變化。許多大學把人口統(tǒng)計學視作社會學的一部分，因為社會學關注民族、宗教、種族和社會經(jīng)濟階級。有些人將形式/結(jié)構(gòu)人口學（或人口統(tǒng)計學）與社會人口學或人口研究加以區(qū)別，形式/結(jié)構(gòu)人口學主要關注人口演變過程的測量，社會人口學或人口研究則著眼于影響人口的經(jīng)濟、社會、文化和生物這些進程之間的關系。

社會語言學及應用語言學中，許多探討人口和語言關系的問題，逐漸發(fā)展成為人口語言學。在我所感興趣的研究領域中，雙語制和多語制、語言保持和語言轉(zhuǎn)變、語言流失和語言死亡是人口語言學的中心議題。這些問題顯然與某些語言使用者的數(shù)量和人口變化，以及對語言使用、語言結(jié)構(gòu)和語言命運的變化有關。還有許多學者和政策制定者對在語言教學中可能成為全球語言的中文傳播感興趣。因此，他們對人口語言學充滿興趣，并且特別關注人口動態(tài)——誰是學習者，他們分布在哪里，以及如何讓漢語教學在某些國家得到可持續(xù)性發(fā)展。漢語使用者遍布世界各地，但主要是華裔。與阿拉伯語、英語、法語、西班牙語、俄語，甚至和許多其他語言相比，將中文作為其主要語言的非華裔人口數(shù)量十分有限。有鑒于此，我們是否應該將中文作為繼承語言和作為國際性語言加以區(qū)別？

如前所述，我感興趣的不是簡單的數(shù)字，而是人口構(gòu)成和人口動態(tài)的本質(zhì)。例如，老齡化似乎是發(fā)達國家的一個主要社會現(xiàn)象，盡管嬰兒死亡與少女懷孕仍是非洲和其他欠發(fā)達或發(fā)展中國家的共同現(xiàn)象。由這些現(xiàn)象導致的語言后果是什么？在不同國家和不同語言文化背景下，不同世代間隔的意味著什么？ 例如，與一個世代間隔為35年或更長的社區(qū)相比，一個世代間隔小于20年的社區(qū)，對語言的影響是什么？從語言隔代研究的結(jié)果我們了解到，不同年齡段語言使用者所使用的語言是不同的。那么，不同世代間隔是否導致語言結(jié)構(gòu)變化呢？世代間隔的長短是否會影響語言變化的快慢呢？這些問題都還沒有答案，但都是非常有趣且重要的問題?；旌险Z言婚姻是另一個例子。哪種或哪些語言是經(jīng)過世代傳承的以及傳承的方式如何，從長遠來看，這是一個非常有意義的重要議題。

中國新的政策措施和由此帶來的人口變化為我們研究其對語言的影響和進一步發(fā)展人口統(tǒng)計學提供了非常難得的機遇。我衷心希望，中國的研究者能夠抓住這一機遇，開展高質(zhì)量的實證研究，所有這些將具有深遠的理論意義和實踐意義。

（北京外國語大學 張?zhí)靷ァ⒗钇G紅譯）

Language and Demography： Implications of Chinas Family Planning Policies and Demographic Changes for Language and Linguistics

University of London Li Wei

Since 2005， the Chinese authorities have been com?mis??????sioning a series of reports on language use in social life in China. This has been a major development in the study of language in China and has attracted a great deal of attention overseas. The English language editions of selected articles from these reports are now available from De Gruyter. These reports refocused our attention to the intrinsic connections between social policies and what is happening in society broadly， on the one hand， and language use and language structures， on the other. For a society like that of the Chinese， these connections are of crucial significance， and any sensible and useful study of language needs to take them into consideration seriously and systematically.

More recently， there have been a number of key policy initiatives that have direct and significant impacts on language and studies of language. For example， the One Belt One Road initiative has already attracted a great deal of attention amongst linguists and language policy makers. Another policy initiative， the one that I am particularly interested in and the one that I feel also has important implications for language and language studies， is that of family planning， specifically the recent relaxation of the one couple one child policy in urban areas.

The one couple one child policy was part of a broader Family Planning （or birth control） policy that started in the 1950s. The strictest form of the policy was only ever implemented in specific areas of China for 3-4 years in the early 1980s. Purely in terms of birth control， the policy appeared to be a clear success. According to the statistics from the World Bank， Chinas national birth rate fell from 2.61 per woman of childbearing age to 1.45 between 1990 and 2000， much lower than many developed countries. Demographers and China watchers estimated that China prevented between 200 million and 400 million births between the 1980s and 2010.

The impacts of the policy are much more wide-ranging and fundamental. It has led to a 4-2-1 structure of Chinese families， with a severe ageing population of 1/3 over 60 years of age， and only about 48% of the population at working age， according to UN statistics. The World Factbook， by CIA， has the sex ratio of the Chinese population at 1.119：1 （male to female）.These have huge consequences for the economy （welfare）， national security （army）， and culture （ethnic minority vs Han Chinese birth ratio in the 2010 census was 11%-17% against national average of 8%； urban vs rural） of the nation.

I am of course primarily interested in the linguistic consequences of the One Couple One Child Policy， what impact the policy has had on the language practices and indeed the structures of the language. This remains an explored area. And it is time that we start doing some serious empirical research. The key area for investigation has to be child language acquisition and development. Whilst most linguists accept that human beings are pre-wired for language acquisition， input and environment play crucial roles in how language is acquired and developed in infant and childhood. We know for a fact that the amount of attention a child receives from the primary caregiver is important， so is the linguistic model（s） （the kind of input） they receive. We also know that peer interaction is equally crucial， where gender also plays a role. Once a upon a time， researchers were concerned that traditional Chinese child rearing practices， such as carrying the child on the mothers back， as opposed to carrying them on the front， might reduce the amount of joint attention between the child and the mother as the primary caregiver and therefore reduces the amount of input and the quality of the input which would be important for language development. Now a typical Chinese child in a one couple one child family may have too much attention， as they are the only child in the family. There is an abundant amount of stimuli – toys， books， television， electronic devices， games， etc. It does not mean that there is more ‘joint attention， certainly not always with the parents. But the fact is that the linguistic modelling they receive is largely ‘a(chǎn)dult， even ‘elderly because of the grandparents involvement. There is a lack of sibling model， and no sibling interaction – sibling interaction is qualitatively different from that of peer （same age group） interaction. This is coupled with a societal culture that encourages apparent early maturity in young children. We see on TV， for example， young children are praised to be able to recite hundreds of Tang poems， apart from other intelligence-oriented competition （maths， general knowledge – Im only interested in language here）. So， ‘Little Adult （小大人）is often pre?sented as a successful model of child development， and it is particularly vivid in their everyday language behaviour. Issues regarding ‘over-protectiveness or even spoiling the child （嬌慣）； the parents pushiness in developing the child ahead of time （‘超前意識/目標）， all have serious linguistics consequences that need to be studied systematically.

The specific linguistic effects of lack of sibling interaction deserves particular attention. There is sufficient peer interaction， but they are all ‘stranger interaction， with non-family/non-relatives. We know superficially that there is lack of use of non-generic kinship terms， such as 姑姑，舅舅， etc. But we notice that topics children talk about with non-family peers， usually in nursery and school contexts， are not domestic ones， i.e. not about everyday family life. They only have input about the language of domestic life from adults. This must have some long-term consequences. The input models the children get in nurseries and schools tend to come from reading/print material， the media， and in adult forms. We certainly need to look into it more.

Another area or topic where the one couple one child policy has had a distinctive impact on language is grandparenting. I have been interested in grandparenting for some time， mainly because of my work in the overseas Chinese communities. We know from many generations of linguistic research that the role of grandparents is crucial in language transmission， language maintenance and language shift. Grandparents often hold the key role in keeping alive regional dialects or ethnic minority/home/heritage languages. In the overseas Chinese families， grandparents are often the main source of input of Chinese， including Chinese dialects， and we have studied Hakka-speaking families where the language died with the grandparents and the family subsequently experienced a language shift. In contemporary Chinese families with one child only， the grandparents also play a key role in child rearing， simply because the parents are usually very busy working and making money. It is a lot more common in China， than anywhere else in the world to involve grandparents， as well as adult strangers （阿姨‘nannies）， in child rearing – unheard of in some western societies. Most urban Chinese families have nannies as well as grandparents looking after the child. Intriguingly， however， dialect transmission does not appear tobe the norm in urban Chinese families. So， even though the grandparents may be dialect speakers， and the nannies might be too， the speech norm that is used with young children is typically standard， or at least supra-local （supralocal dialect levelling is a major topic of research in dialectology， historical linguistics and sociolinguistics）. There is an overwhelming positive attitude towards shifting to standard varieties of Chinese. It may not always be Putonghua. It could be some local standard， but definitely not regional dialects. In the meantime， there is also great interest in the so-called bilingual education to very young children， i.e. teaching them English， and the popular belief that the earlier the exposure to English the better.

But the influence of grandparents on children and especially on the childrens language development is a lot more than just dialect maintenance. It relates to the way older adults speak， including their lexical choice and grammatical structures， to young children. Language change takes place primarily through inter-generational interaction. The consequences of more interactions that involve grandparents and grandchildren may have two very different directions – convergence， or divergence. Convergence when the two generations learn from each other and accommodate to each other. Divergence when they dont. This is an extremely interesting topic to explore further， a topic that has real substantial consequences to the changes of the linguistic structures of the language.

There are many other topics and questions that could be investigated. For example， interactions between couples who are single child themselves （‘獨二代之間的交流）. This is not about child language development， but about adult language use. Comparisons between the so-called ethnic minority languages in China who are not directly affected by the one couple one child policy with the Han Chinese， and between rural and urban areas， are also worth doing.

With the new relaxation of the One Couple One Child policy， we are predicting to see a new group of second children， born some 10 years after the first. How such age gaps will impact on the language development of the children and the language practices within the family will become an important topic for future research.

The research I have suggested above is part of a developing field， known as ‘demographical linguistics. Demographical Linguistics concerns the complex inter?relationships between demographic patterns and changes on the one hand， and language development， language change， language maintenance and language shift， and language planning， on the other. It is different from ‘linguistic demography – statistical account of the distribution of languages.

Over the last twenty years， Demographical Linguistics has become an international crossing for demography and linguistics. Some even see the more recent develop?ments in the so-called linguistic landscaping research as connected with it or an extension of it. Whereas demo?graphical linguistic studies tend to focus on the spatial and temporal distribution and vitality of languages in the private domains of the home， linguistic landscaping has as its focus the public domain in the most literal sense， i.e.， in terms of the visibility and display of languages on the streets. In this sense， the outcomes of linguistic landscaping research shouldnt be taken as the facts of the linguistic make-up of the population in a given place.

One of the key concerns of demographical linguistics is the vitality of languages other than “national” languages. Depending on particular contexts or perspectives， such languages are often referred to as minority languages or dominated languages. Numerical classifications do not necessarily coincide with social classifications. So researchers who are interested in these languages talk about numbers but are not solely concerned with numbers. There are issues of power and ideology that need to be considered.

In my studies of demography and linguistics， I am less interested in the statistical distribution of the population， which is an important part but not the only important part of demography as a field of inquiry. I am more interested in the quality of the population， and nature of the composition of the population in specific communities or societies – in other words， population dynamics. And that is at the heart of a new wave of demographic research， to analyze any kind of dynamic living population， i.e.， one that changes over time or space. It encompasses the study of the size， structure， and distribution of these populations， and spatial or temporal changes in them in response to birth， migration， ageing， and death. Yes， it often talks in quantitative terms – the demographics， but most of the questions demographers are asking nowadays are actually about social change in relation to population dynamics. Many universities treat demography as part of Sociology because of its interests in nationality， religion， ethnicity， and socio-economic class. Some people make the distinction between formal/structural demography （or demographics） which is primarily concerned with the measurement of population processes， and social demography or population studies which focus on the relationships between economic， social， cultural and biological processes influencing a population.

Many topics in socio- and applied linguistics deal with the relationship between demography and language， which give rises to Demographical Linguistics. In the areas that I am particularly interested in， which are bilingualism and multilingualism， language maintenance and language shift， language loss and language death are all central topics in this field. They are clearly related to the number of speakers of particular languages and how demographic changes affect language use， the structures of the languages and the fate of the languages. Many scholars and policy makers alike are interested in the spread of Chinese as a possible global language through language teaching. They should therefore be interested in demographical linguistics and pay specific attention to population dynamics： who the learners are， where they are and how sustainable Chinese language teaching is in specific countries. Chinese speakers are found all over the world， but mainly amongst ethnic Chinese people. The number of people who are not ethnic Chinese but who speak Chinese as their primary language is extremely limited， compared to Arabic， English， French， Spanish， even Russian， and many other world languages. Should there be a distinction between teaching Chinese as a Heritage language and Chinese as an international language？

As I said earlier， what I am interested in is not simply the numbers， but the nature of the composition of the population or population dynamics. For example， ageing seems to be a major social phenomenon in developed countries， though infant death and teenage pregnancy are still a common phenomena in Africa and other under-developed or developing countries. What are the linguistic consequences of these？ What are the implications of different generation intervals in different countries and cultures for language – for instance， what are the linguistic consequences of one community whose generation intervals are under 20 years， compared to， say， another community whose generation intervals are 35 or over？ We know from generations of linguistic research that different age groups of speakers use language differently. Will the language structures change as a result of the different generation intervals？ Will linguistic change be faster or slower if the intervals are shorter or longer？ These are all questions with unknown answers right now. They are extremely interesting and important questions. Mixed language marriage is another example. What language or languages are being transmitted through the generations and how， is an important topic with long-term implications.

The new policy initiatives and population changes in China provide us with a unique opportunity to study their impact on language and subsequently contribute to the further development of Demographic Linguistics. I sincerely hope that researchers in China will seize this opportunity and conduct high-quality empirical research that will have long term theoretical and practical significance.