语言识别的语言学标准是什么？--有关“语言关系”问题的讨论

What Are the Linguistic Criteria of Language Recognition: Discussion on the “Language Relationship”

不少西方学者认为中国语言学家在识别语言方面过于保守,美国语言学家Jamin Pelkey以互懂度为标准把他在云南描写的24种民族语言定义为独立的语言,并且得到了国际标准化组织的承认。Walter Shearer虽然认为互懂度是识别语言的最终标准,但指出测度互懂度的技术还不成熟。孙宏开此前结合中国境内语言和民族的复杂关系,综合考虑语言结构标准和政治社会因素,提出了在我国进行语言识别的原则和标准。与西方学者不同的是,他非常重视分析、比较语言结构与周围语言之间的同异在语言识别中的作用。互懂度实际上是以语言系统的差异大小为基础的,必须落实到语言系统的比较才能充分发挥作用。现代语言已经在语言系统、语言与社会的关系等方面积累了丰富的成果,至少可以为语言识别提供两个可以参考的标准:语言系统的异同和对言语社区的认同。语言识别工作有着重要的社会影响,语言学家应当积极利用这些成果,立足于严谨、科学的研究,推动有关"语言关系"问题的讨论。

Quite a few Western scholars think that Chinese linguists are too conservative in distinguishing languages. The American lin- guist Jamin Pelkey uses mutual intelligibility as the criterion and regards the 24 ethnic languages in Yunnan Province as independent languages, which is accepted by the International Organization for Standardization （ISO）. Walter Shearer has pointed out that it is im- mature to use the definitive language codes until the mutual intelligibility criteria and techniques have become mature. Sun Hongkai proposes his principles and criteria for distinguishing Chinese languages while taking into account the actual factors in China. Mutual intelligibility criteria are essentially built on the basis of the language structures which could be divided into three subsystems： phonolo- gy, lexicon and grammar. In the progress of recognition, differences among language varieties should be compared respectively in these subsystems. Besides, the linguistic criteria of language recognition should take into account the speaker system of language varieties from the sociolinguistic perspective. Only through scientific research can linguists promote the study on the ＂language relationship＂.