Recently, the epidemic situation in Lu'an, Anhui Province, has attracted widespread attention. Discussions about the pronunciation of the name of this ancient city in western Anhui have also entered people's field of vision. Some people pronounce it "liù ān" and cite the new version of the Xinhua Dictionary and the Modern Chinese Dictionary as explanations; the locals read it as "lù ān", which is interpreted from the perspective of history, culture and local dialects. How exactly should "Lu'an" be pronounced? For a time there were many opinions.
A few days ago, the Department of Regional Divisions and Geographical Names of the Ministry of Civil Affairs responded: In the "Administrative Divisions of the People's Republic of China 2020", Lu'an City pinyin is "lu'an shi". The difference in pronunciation, which seems to be the difference between standard Mandarin and local dialects, actually triggers people's discussion of place name identification and hometown pronunciation, and this process is also a vivid historical and cultural lesson.
As early as five years ago, linguists investigated, studied and discussed the pronunciation of Mandarin transliteration words, including a detailed study of the pronunciation of place names "Lu'an". Linguists started from the historical phonology of the "six" characters, dialect pronunciation and the phonological evolution laws related to Mandarin, explaining the rationality of the new edition of the Xinhua Dictionary and the Modern Chinese Dictionary to delete the pronunciation of the "six" character "lù" and the deletion of the zhuyin of the two place names of Lu'an and Liuhe.
However, it is clear that the significance of geographical names is not fully demonstrated from the point of view of linguistic norms. Place names not only record the spatial scope it represents, but also contain rich folk customs, continuing the emotional inheritance of thousands of years, and pinning people's deep nostalgia. Looking closely at the discussion caused by the pronunciation of the place name "Lu'an", it is not difficult to find that most of the people who pronounce the "lù" sound are local people in Lu'an or people whose ancestral home is Lu'an. These people who are connected to the Blood of Lu'an have more emotions about the pronunciation choice. After all, the name itself carries memories: newborns fall to the ground, family members take names with joy, surnames show blood relatives, and the names are blessed; ordinary flowers and trees, once they understand their names, they feel vivid and lovely, as if establishing an emotional bond. A place name is not only a geographical symbol of a land, but also full of life, emotion and history; not only a series of heart-warming words, but also a deep feeling for hometown; not only an emotional belonging, but also an identity. Some people say that place names are our way home. This is true of meaning, and so is the love of love.
Historical geographer Tan Qijun compares place names to living fossils of human history. As early as the Qin and Han Dynasties, there are records of the naming of place names, such as "Jiangxia County, because of the water from the river to the South County Huarong for summer water, across the county into the river, so known as Jiangxia" means named after the landscape; "Dai County Lingqiu County, because the King of Wuling is buried here, so Lingqiu" means named after a person, and so on. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the naming was further expanded, especially Li Daoyuan's "Notes on the Water Classics" added more additions to the origin of place-name naming. Following the names of places, people can cross the river of time and discover the local historical origins and behind-the-scenes stories. From Wang Wei's "Xiangyang Good Wind Day, Stay Drunk and Mountain" to Gao Shi's "Several Letters from Hengyang Guiyan", to Zhang Ji's "Hanshan Temple Outside Gusu City, Midnight Bell to passenger ship", those beautiful place names in poetry are a vivid presentation of history and a valuable cultural resource.
At present, with the development of economic and social development, the mobility of the population has increased, and the sense of geographical belonging has become stronger. The homeland is the land on which ancestors have grown and lived for generations, and it is also the home of nostalgia. Whenever you hear a familiar hometown sound, you will stop like you know it in your hometown; whenever you see the name of your hometown, you can't help but pay attention to it. Standardizing the use of geographical names and attaching importance to geographical name culture will not only make China's geographical names more historically inheritable and rich in traditional cultural characteristics, but also make people more able to "remember nostalgia".
Whether to read "lù" or "liù" has all aspects of consideration such as historical and cultural feelings. It can be said that the genes of culture exist in all corners of life, food, clothing, shelter and transportation, "daily use without awareness". From this point of view, in the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, we also need to pay attention to the power of culture, eliminate some health abuses, cultivate some new winds in public life, and use new cultural habits to help completely defeat the epidemic.
Source: People's Daily Comment WeChat public account