Language Identity and Cultural Identity in the New Era of Digital Intelligence
The"Digital Intelligence Era",inaugurated by the Fourth Technological Revolution,marks a new epoch.In this transformative period,it is crucial for the humanities to consciously examine the humanistic issues arising from technological advances.This article discusses technology's impact from a linguistic perspective,focusing particularly on its influence on language identity and cultural identity.In the Digital Era,digital communication and social media have profoundly influenced language and cultural identities.By transcending the constraints in terms of time and space,digital communication helps mobile populations maintain connections with their original communities,thereby strengthening their existing language and cultural identities.Social media serves as a platform for self-expression and the construction of virtual communities,allows minority groups to express implicit identities,and enables multilingual and multicultural individuals to achieve cross-linguistic and cross-cultural identities.Looking ahead to the Intelligent Era,artificial intelligence technology will further enhance productivity.This productivity increase will create conditions and possibilities for people to pursue their needs for belonging,thereby reinforcing group consciousness of language and cultural identities.Therefore,this article proposes to closely monitor implicit language and cultural identities emerging in cyberspace and to strengthen cultural identity education,particularly regarding the national common language and Chinese cultural identity.In the Intelligent Era,the global dynamics of language strength will be reorganized.The status of dominant and minority languages will depend on their digital resources and machine translation capabilities.Thus,this article suggests that as China develops its own large language models,it is crucial to focus on improving translation between the national common language on one hand,and regional languages and dialects on the other hand,ensuring that the Chinese language maintains a dominant force by enhancing its centripetal and cohesive power domestically and its intermediary and connective power internationally.The Fourth Industrial Revolution will have a distinct impact on human civilization compared to the previous three,challenging the Enlightenment's assertion that human reason is the most crucial element of consciousness.This shift will ultimately lead to the formation of a new paradigm of human civilization.The new form of human civilization will reshape the relationship between language and culture.It was previously believed that Putonghua,as a standardized language regulated above dialects,is not the natural mother tongue of the people.Consequently,Putonghua's role in carrying,transmitting,and preserving traditional Chinese culture was considered weaker than that of Chinese dialects and minority languages.However,standardized languages are better suited for communication with machines.Therefore,in the Digital Intelligence Era,standardized languages will significantly enhance their roles in carrying,transmitting,and preserving culture in cyberspace.These languages will become the primary vehicles for the new form of human civilization.
national common languageModern Chinese CivilizationDigital Intelligence Eralanguage identitycultural identity