语言改革、教育普及与现代国家——浅议严修对中国语文现代化的推动

Language Reform, Education Popularization and the Modern State:A Brief Discussion on Yan Xiu’s Promotion of Chinese Language Modernization

清末民初,许多仁人志士尝试以语言文字改革作为中国社会现代化转型的突破口,严修即是其中的代表人物之一。他以支持官话合声字母、推动民族共同语形成所开展的一系列教育革新活动为切入点,探讨语言改革、教育普及与现代国家之间的密切关系。严修在清末民初语文改革运动中发挥的引领作用极大地推动了中国语文现代化的进程,而在这一过程中西学东渐对其语言文字改革思想和实践有重要影响。

During the later Qing Dynasty and the early era of the Republic of China, many distinguished people attempted to make breakthroughs in the modernization and transformation of Chinese society by reforming the language and its characters. Significantly, Yan Xiu represented one of these reformers. He explored the close relationship between language reform, education popularization and the modern state through a series of innovative educational activities,such as his support of consonant letters in official mandarin and his promotion of a common national language. His leading role in the reform movement of language during this period crucially promoted the process of the modernization of the Chinese language. In this process, the spread of Western ideas into the East had a significant impact on his thought and practice of language and character reforms.