{"id":23524,"date":"2016-01-16T21:35:01","date_gmt":"2016-01-17T02:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=23524"},"modified":"2016-01-16T21:35:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-17T02:35:01","slug":"a-rebirth-for-manchu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=23524","title":{"rendered":"A rebirth for Manchu?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchu<\/a> was the language of the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing<\/a>, which ruled from 1644-1912, and had two of its emperors (Kangxi, Qianlong) each rule for 60 years or more.<\/p>\n

Today, out of nearly ten million ethnic Manchus<\/a>, fewer than one hundred can still speak the language fluently, and it is generally regarded as being on the brink of extinction.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From time to time, we have mentioned Manchu on Language Log, e.g., \"Manchu loans in northeast Mandarin<\/a>\" (10\/7\/13).<\/p>\n

We have also noted a related tongue, Sibe<\/a> (a Manchu language<\/a> that survives in Xinjiang, the westernmost region of China).\u00a0 Note that linguists generally consider Sibe to be a separate language, not a dialect of Manchu.<\/p>\n

In a recent post, we looked carefully at \"Spoken Sanskrit<\/a>\" (1\/9\/16), and this led to lively discussions of language revivals, with Hebrew being cited as a successful example.\u00a0 This leads to a consideration of the possibility that the existence of Sibe in a remote part of Xinjiang, where their ancestors were sent as a military garrison by the Qing government in 1764, might serve as a basis from which to bring Manchu back to life.<\/p>\n

\"Manchu, Former Empire\u2019s Language, Hangs On at China\u2019s Edge<\/a>\" (1\/11\/16)<\/p>\n

It is noteworthy that the Sibe in Xinjiang often serve as multilingual translators.<\/p>\n

When I listen to Sibe being sung, it's almost exactly what I imagined Manchu would sound like when I have had occasion to read texts in that language:<\/p>\n

\"In Song, a Remnant of China\u2019s Former Imperial Language<\/a>\" (1\/14\/16)<\/p>\n

I am of the opinion that if enough Manchus have the resolve to resurrect their mother tongue, with Sibe serving as a model on which to base their efforts, it can be done.\u00a0 What is needed are individuals with leadership qualities who are committed to the task.<\/p>\n

[h\/t Ben Zimmer, Roslyn Blyn, and Stefan Krasowski]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manchu was the language of the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing, which ruled from 1644-1912, and had two of its emperors (Kangxi, Qianlong) each rule for 60 years or more. Today, out of nearly ten million ethnic Manchus, fewer than one hundred can still speak the language fluently, and it is generally regarded as being […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[279],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language-extinction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23524"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23564,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23524\/revisions\/23564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}