Work on Chinese ethnic languages published

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A book collection on the study of ethnic languages in China has been published to boost the country's linguistic diversity, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) said Monday.

The three-volume book, the first of its kind, covers the research findings of Chinese ethnic languages that have been introduced since the founding of New China in 1949, the academy said.

With joint efforts by three generations of linguists from the CASS, the work took more than a decade to complete, according to the academy.

"The publication has promoted the study of ethnic languages, and also played a good role in protecting endangered languages and boosting the country's linguistic diversity," said Chao Ke, deputy director of the Bureau of Scientific Research Management of CASS.

China has about 100 spoken languages and dozens of written forms used by its 55 ethnic minorities. They belong to different language families, including Sino-Tibetan, Altaic, Indo-European and Austro-Asiatic.

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