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

The three-volume book, the first of its kind, covers research findings introduced since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the academy said.

The work took more than a decade to complete through joint efforts by three generations of linguists, 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's 55 ethnic minorities use about 100 spoken languages and dozens of written forms belonging to the Sino-Tibetan, Altaic, Indo-European and Austro-Asiatic language families.