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The biliteracy and multilingual practices of Khitan-Liao dynasty (907–1125): Evidence from interethnic marriage families
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Citation
Yang, R., & Chung, W. T. J. (22 May 2025). The biliteracy and multilingual practices of Khitan-Liao dynasty (907–1125): Evidence from interethnic marriage families. Historical Sociolinguistics Network Conference 2025 (HiSoN 2025), University of Bristol, UK.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
The Khitan-Liao Dynasty (907-1125) stood during the medieval period in East and Central Asia, and multiethnicity and multilanguage coexisted across the terrtory. The peoples who inhabited this vast land included the nomadic herders represented by the Khitans, and agricultural farmers, represented by the Han Chinese , as well as many ethnics such as Bohai, Xi, Mongols, Uighur, Jurchen, and others. The different groups of ethnic people had their own language. The Khitan-Liao was a historical biliteracy and multilingual society whereby both Khitan and Chinese were commonly spoken, and two scripts - Khitan (large and small) and Chinese as forms of writing. However, the biliteracy and multilingual practice of this dynasty had been almost unknown for a long time due to a lack of historical records and more importantly, a lack of research conducted in this area. It is also considered to be perhaps the most complex language situation among the ethnic groups of Medieval Northeast Asia (Liu 2008). To address these issues, this study collects data from
various handed down historical documents and particularly from undearthed stele inscriptions in both Chinese and Khitan scripts, to examine how the biliteracry and multilingualism practiced in the society with focus of interethnic marriged families. More specifically, this study is to explore what linguistic resources acquired biliteracy and multilingualism in the families of Khitan nobles and Han officials. The study demonstrites that the practice of biliteracy and multilingualism contributed to development of the empire
into an transcultural society.
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