语言、国家、现代性:重审“国语运动”

Language, Nation and Modernity:National Language Movement in the Early Twentieth Century

民国初年发生的国语运动是国家意识在中国兴起的产物。本文从两个视角回顾了这场语文改革运动:(1)国家意识的兴起对国语运动目标和路径的影响;(2)语文问题如何被纳入中国现代转型的整体方案,并彼此输送合法性。

This article explores the notion of national language and its implications for Chinese nationalistic movements in the early twenties century. Drawing on a historical review of the national language in China, the article argues that the establishment of a national language was a landmark of Chinese modernization, and its continuous codifi cation has been a driving force of national identity construction as well as national transformation. The investigation starts from two perspectives:(1) it reviews the rise of a national language in terms of national identity construction and its impacts on the reformation of Chinese language; and(2) it discusses the procedure of integrating language into the overall transformation and modernization of the nation. The article concludes that language codifi cation and political transformation legitimate each other, and the establishment of a national language is a prerequisite of a modern nation-state.