International Workshop on the History of Colloquial Chinese — Written and Spoken
白話和官話的歷史以及方言的歷史文獻國際研討會
Organizer: Richard VanNess Simmons, Rutgers University
March 11, 2016 9:00 am – 12:00 noon, Alexander Library Room 403 Lecture Hall, CAC
1:30 pm – 6:30 pm, Murray Hall 302, Plangere Room, CAC
March 12, 2016 9:00 am – 6:30 pm, Rutgers University Inn & Conference Center, Douglass
Issues and Topics to be explored will include:
- The history of China's colloquial literary languages: Guānhuà and Báihuà as reflected in literature such as vernacular fiction, and phonological texts such as rime tables.
- The standard regional languages and prestige dialects of the past, with particular attention to the history of Mandarin and its influence on other dialects.
- The influence of historical forms of spoken Chinese and Chinese dialects on written Chinese.
- Proto-dialects and supra-regional common languages (koinés), and their relationship to spoken dialects.
- Dialect etymologies and historical grammatical structures and their evolution.
Full List of Speakers and Program
This workshop is open to the Rutgers community as well as to interested specialists from other universities and institutes, but RSVP is required (by sending an email to
Workshop Sponsors:
- Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, USA (蔣經國國際學術交流基金會)
- Rutgers Center for Chinese Studies
- Rutgers University Department of Asian Languages and Cultures