The Manchu language is the native language of the Manchu people of North-eastern China. It was the official state language of the Chinese Empire during the imperial rule of the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty ruled China from the mid-17th century to the early 20th century. Throughout this period Man...
efforts in reviving the manchu language by various leaders
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Running header: PRESERVATION OF THE MANCHU LANGUAGE 1
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, PRESERVATION OF THE MANCHU LANGUAGE
2
Introduction
The Manchu language is the native language of the Manchu people of North-eastern
China. It was the official state language of the Chinese Empire during the imperial rule of the
Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty ruled China from the mid-17th century to the early 20th
century. Throughout this period Manchu and Chinese were the official imperial language and
all imperial business; courts, police and military communication, as well as academia were
conducted in either of the two. Educated civilians, military officers, and other noble people
within the empire were required by official government policy to acquire literacy in Manchu
(Pamela Crossley & Evelyn Rawski, 2011).
Roots, History, and Decline
Manchu belongs to a Tunguistic language group of the Altaic language family; the
language family of central Eurasia and Siberia including the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic
groups. The roots of Manchu can be traced, therefore, to these groups of languages spoken
across North-eastern China, Russia, and extending through Mongolia. At its peak Manchu
was spoken by over 8.5 million within the Qing dynasty. Up until the mid-17th century, most
the majority of Qing’s empire was monolingual Manchu speakers. This was despite Chinese
being an official language in the empire at the same time. In the period around late 17th
century to early 18th century, however, a significant portion of the population had shifted from
monolingual Manchu speakers to bilingual Manchu and Chinese speakers (Yu 2001). This
was the beginning of the decline of Manchu language and post 18th century Manchu speakers
shifted to monolingual Chinese speakers.
Hsiao-jung Yu’s article titled Manchu Rule over China and the Attrition of the
Manchu Language divides the history of the Manchu language into three periods: the early
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