A Comparative Study of Reforms on Language Policy in Persian and Qin Empire

Yi Yang

doi:10.54097/ehss.v12i.7650

Authors

Yi Yang

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/ehss.v12i.7650

Keywords:

Language policy; Persian Empire; Qin Empire.

Abstract

After establishing a territory extensive, multicultural and diverse ethnic empire, in order to consolidate power, Darius I and the First Emperor of Qin carried out a quite similar reform, but they took the opposite approaches to language policy: Darius adopted a loose language policy, allowing people who lived on the conquered lands to remain their languages and scripts, while the First Emperor of Qin adopted the “unification of scripts and pronunciation” policy, abolished the paleography in the former six countries and formed a consolidated official character based on the Qing characters named “seal character”. Therefore, this paper uses the comparative historical analysis approach to compare the historical background, influential factors and results of the two different language policies adopted by Darius and the First Emperor of Qin; it reveals that the “unification of script” policy was the key or at least one of the key, to not only increase effectiveness and accuracy in decree passing but also to form cultural memory of the polity which was the foundation of national identity to increase the stability and continuity of an empire.

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