中国学术语言的中英文地位问题

A Comparative Study of the Status of Chinese and English as Academic Languages:A Domestic Perspective

学术语言指学界所用语言,主要表现在教学语言、书刊语言和会议语言3个方面,它对语言本身、社会和国家发展都意义重大。如今许多非英语国家本国语的学术语言地位都受到英语的挑战,中文也不例外。根据学术语言的3种表现形式和语言政策的3个成分(即语言意识形态、语言管理和语言实践)所构成的单循环关系,可以构建9个有关学术语言地位评判的指标。我们通过文献统计法和问卷法来收集中国境内有关中文和英语作为学术语言的相关数据,然后通过比较法来评价中文在学术英语影响下的地位状况。调查结果表明,在这9项指标中,中文有6项不如英语,仅有3项强于英语;这3项优势还是因为占了国内主场之利,但目前也受到英语的侵蚀。可见,中文的国内学术地位存在一定的安全隐患。学界需提高学术语言的功能认识,加强中文作为学术语言的对策研究;处理好学术中文和学术英语之间的博弈与平衡关系;牢牢稳固中文的国内地位,逐渐扩大中文的国际影响;制定和实施多维实用的学术语言政策。

The language used in academia,or academic language embodied in instructions,publications,and conferences,has profound signifi cance for individual languages,society,and the nation.However,the academic status of many languages in non-English speaking countries,including the Chinese language,is challenged by academic English.Currently,there is no eff ective way to evaluate the academic status of a language.Based on the tripartite components of language policy,i.e.,language ideology,management,and practice,this paper proposes an evaluation system to measure the academic positionings of the diff erent languages.In light of the three representative forms of academic language,namely instructional language,publishing language,and conference language,the system with nine indicators assesses the academic status of an individual language.In this paper,the evaluation system is used to compare the academic status of Chinese and English in China.The result shows that Chinese is inferior to English in six indicators and stronger than English in three indicators.However,the three strong aspects,mainly attributed to the Chinese-dominant sociocultural context,show signs of erosion caused by English.Therefore,the insecurity of Chinese as a local academic language deems caution.It is suggested that the Chinese academia deepen their understanding of the functions of Chinese as an academic language,balance the competition between academic Chinese and academic English,increase the international infl uence of Chinese,and enact multi-dimensional policies on academic languages.