近代中国的两种“国语”观——以读音统一会为中心

Two Views of “National Language” in Modern China:Centering on the Unified Pronunciation Association

读音统一会审定了国音、制定了辅助汉字表音之用的注音字母,在汉语改革上不仅具有承上启下的作用,还体现了知识分子如何构想现代民族国家的国语制度、教育制度等问题。本文以王照和吴稚晖代表的两种国语观为线索,追溯了清末民初的国语运动中的两种不同的思想脉络。王照所代表的国语观,从民众教育的角度出发,认为应取幅员最阔的京话为国语的标准。而吴稚晖所代表的国语观,则认为中国方言各异,没有一种现成的完备语言可以充当国语的标准,应该以汉字读音为线索,先统一国音,后改良语言,由此产生新的国语。这两种不同的国语观反映了现代国语制度形成时所需要的两个基本面向:以现有的某种活的语言为基础进行标准化,以及将国语看成是全国人公用的表情达意、政治参与的交流工具,而一贯制的近代教育则是形成这一理念的前提保证。

The Unified Pronunciation Association has approved the national pronunciation and formulated the phonetic alphabet to assist the phonetic representation of Chinese characters,which reflects how the intellectuals conceive the national language system and education system of the modern nation-state.Based on Wang Zhao’s and Wu Zhihui’s views on Mandarin,this paper traces back to two different thoughts in the Mandarin Movement in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.Wang Zhao’s starts from the perspective of mass education,thinking that the most extensive Beijing dialect should be taken as the standard of Mandarin.Wu Zhihui declares,however,that Chinese dialects are different,and there is no ready-made and finished language that can serve as the standard of Mandarin,and that we should take the pronunciation of Chinesecharacters as a clue to unify the national pronunciation first,and then to improve the language,so as to produce a new national language as a result.These two different views on Mandarin reflect the two basic aspects in the formation of the modern Mandarin system:a standardization based on one of the living languages,or the consideration of Mandarin as a common communication tool for national expression and political participation.And the consistent modern education is the prerequisite for the formation of this concept.