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I think the French colonizers trying to make their empire more legible to them and suppressing the use of Chinese characters in service of that goal had a bigge
by yorwba 3y ago
I think the French colonizers trying to make their empire more legible to them and suppressing the use of Chinese characters in service of that goal had a bigger influence on the decline of chu Nom than a particular lack of formalization.
- kergonath 3y agoThere is more context than that in the article. The gist of it is that it was originally developed for religious reasons, became official late in the colonisation process, and was further developed by Vietnamese intellectuals. It out-competed chữ Nôm because it was easier to learn. No need for nefarious master plans.
- b112 3y agoIt was the French, but that doesn't make it nefarious. Have you seen how annoying it is to type pictographic characters on a computer? Try doing so on a typical typewriter, or using an old style printing press. Whether right or wrong, it was seen as beneficial.
- yorwba 3y agoThis doctoral thesis has a short discussion of French language and education policy in their Vietnamese colonies: https://theses.hal.science/tel-02056541/document#page=35 https://theses.hal.science/tel-02056541/document#page=35 Unsurprisingly, it's in French.
- realusername 3y agoIt wasn't very popular either so the French didn't need to try too hard, the Vietnamese writing not being related to China is one of their pride.