放弃母语的权利:语言政策与规划维度的思考

The Right of Giving up the Mother Tongue:A Language Policy Perspective

本文从语言政策的视角对当前学界关于母语退出权的探讨进行了评析,包括这一权利的性质、法理依据,权利和义务主体,以及在语言规划中如何处理这一权利等。母语既是民族认同的标识,也是交际和思维的工具。个人或群体均有权利放弃母语。这一权利是一种消极权利,可以从语言选择权中推导而出,不必单独列出。小族个人或群体不因保存其本族语的义务而在语言选择方面受到限制,但应慎用这一权利。对于儿童而言,其母语选择权可交由父母决定。

This paper reviews the current discussion concerning people＇s right of giving up the mother tongue from angles of nature of the right,legal resource,rights and obligations,and implications for practices.The paper fi rst reviews the defi nition of the mother tongue;second it discusses the notion of language right;and further it contents that giving up the mother tongue is also a kind of language right.The paper further discusses the questions of（1） whether individuals have the right of withdrawing from their ethnic community;（2） whether it is more benefi cial to learn the majority language or language of minority group;（3） who is responsible for maintaining minority language,the government or the minority people;and（4） whether the right of giving up one＇s mother tongue is a positive or a negative right.The paper proposes that giving up one＇s mother tongue is a kind of negative right being derived from the right of choosing one＇s language,and thus it is not necessary to be listed as a separate right.In term of practice,the author argues that the minority ethnic groups and their members should not be restricted in choosing their ethnic language as the mother tongue because of the preservation obligation,but they should be cautious when exercising the right of giving up the ethnic language.