#chinese | gwendolynlerman (2024)

There are several hundred languages in China. The predominant language is Standard Chinese (simplified Chinese: 现代标准汉语/普通话; traditional Chinese: 現代標準漢語/普通話; pinyin: xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ/pǔtōnghuà; “modern standard Han speech”/“common tongue”), but there are hundreds of related Chinese languages, collectively known as Hanyu (汉语/漢語, hànyǔ, “Han language”), that are spoken by 92% of the population.

Standard Chinese is based on the Mandarin dialect of Beijing, is the official national spoken language in China, and serves as a lingua franca within Mandarin-speaking regions. It is spoken by more than 1.1 billion people and is the official language of China, Singapore (as 新加坡华语/新加坡華語, xīnjiāpō huáyǔ), and Taiwan (de facto, as 國語, guóyǔ, “national language”).

The Chinese or Sinitic languages are typically divided into seven major language groups: Gan, Hakka, Mandarin, Min, Wu, Xiang, and Yue. Three further groups can be distinguished: Huizhou, Jin, and Pinghua.

Some varieties remain unclassified, including the Danzhou dialect (儋州话/儋州話, dānzhōuhuà) of northwestern Hainan province; Waxiang (瓦乡话/瓦鄉話, wǎxiānghuà), spoken in a small strip of land in western Hunan, and Shaozhou Tuhua (韶州土话/韶州土話, sháozhōu tǔhuà), spoken in the border regions of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Gan

Gan (赣语/贛語, gànyǔ/gonua) languages are spoken in Jiangxi and neighboring Anhui, Fujian, Hubei, and Hunan by 22 million people (3.9% of the population). Gan is the closest Chinese language to Hakka in terms of phonetics because of the way Middle Chinese voiced initials became voiceless aspirated initials as in Hakka.

It includes the following languages: Changdu (昌都片, chāngdūpiàn; light green), Yiliu (宜浏片/宜瀏片, yíliúpiàn; yellow), Jicha (吉茶片, jíchápiàn; pink), Fuguang (抚广片/撫廣片, fǔguǎngpiàn; brown), Yingyi (鹰弋片, yīngyìpiàn; dark blue), Datong (大通片, dàtōngpiàn; orange), Leizi (耒资片/耒資片, lěizīpiàn; light blue), Dongsui (洞绥片/洞綏片, dòngsuípiàn; dark green), and Huaiyue (怀岳片/懷嶽片, huáiyuèpiàn; purple). The Nanchang dialect, which belongs to Changdu, is taken as representative.

Gan has the following features:

There are five tones: high level, low level, rising, high falling, and low falling.
There are nine grammatical aspects or tenses: initial, progressive, experimental, durative, processive, continuative, repeating, perfect, and complete.
SVO is the most common word order, but SOV and OSV are also possible.
Some archaic words and expressions originally found in ancient Chinese are still used, such as衣裳 (yīshang) for“clothes” instead of衣服 (yīfú) as in Mandarin.

Hakka

Hakka (客家話, kèjiāhuà/hakkâva) languages are spoken in Guangdong and neighboring Fujian, Jiangxi, southern Hunan, and Sichuan, as well as in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, by 47.8 million people (3.5% of the population). Hakka is most closely related to Gan, with which it is mutually intelligible.

Huizhou

Hui (徽语, huīyǔ) languages, also known as Huizhou (徽州话, huīzhōuhuà), are spoken around the historical region of Huizhou in southern Anhui and neighboring Jiangxi and Zhejiang by 4.6 million people (0.3% of the population). Despite the small area in which Huizhou is spoken, nearly every county has its own distinct dialect, unintelligible to a speaker from a few counties away.

It includes the following languages: Ji-She (绩歙话, jīshèhuà), Jing-Zhan (旌札话, jīngzháhuà), Qi-De (祁德话, qídéhuà), Xiu-Yi (休黟话, xiūyīhuà), and Yanzhou (严州话/嚴州話, yánzhōuhuà). Tunxi, a dialect of Xiu-Yi, can be taken as representative.

Huizhou has the following features:

There are six tones: high level, high rising, low rising, high falling, low falling, and checked.
Plural pronouns are formed by adding 人 (rén) to the singular forms, unlike in Mandarin, where们 (men) is added.
Some words differ from Mandarin, such as冰冻 (bīngdòng) for“to freeze” instead of 结冰 (jiébīng).

Jin

Jin (晋语/晉語, jìnyǔ) languages are spoken in Shanxi and neighboring Hebei, Henan, Inner Mongolia, and Shaanxi by 63 million people (5.2% of the population). Some linguists include Jinwithin Mandarin.

It includes the following languages: Bingzhou (并州片, bìngzhōupiàn; red), Da–Bao (大包片, dàbāopiàn; light green), Han-Xin (邯新片, hánxīnpiàn; blue), Lüliang (呂梁片/呂梁片, lǚliángpiàn; gray), Shangdang (上党片/上黨片, shàngdǎngpiàn; dark green), Wutai (五台片/五臺片, wǔtáipiàn; orange), Zhang-Hu (张呼片/張呼片, zhānghūpiàn; yellow), and Zhi-Yan (志延片, zhìyánpiàn; purple). Taiyun, a dialect of Bingzhou, is taken as representative.

Jin has the following features:

Most dialects have five tones, high level, falling-rising, falling, high checked, and low checked, but others have four, six, seven, or eight.
Prefixes like 圪 (gē), 黑 (hēi), 忽 (hū), and 入 (rù) are used in derivational constructions.For example: 入鬼 (rùguǐ) “fool around” < 鬼 (guǐ) “ghost, devil”.
Some dialects make a three-way distinction in demonstratives.
A number of words evolved by splitting a monosyllabic word into two, adding an -l- in between:窟窿 (kūlóng) <孔 (kǒng) and display the difference between Jin and Mandarin, respectively.

Mandarin

Mandarin (官話/官话, guānhuà) languages are spoken natively in most of northern and southwestern China by 920 million people (65.7% of the population). Many of its varieties are not mutually intelligible with the standard language.

Min

Min (闽语/閩語, mǐnyǔ/bân-gú) languages are spoken in Fujian and neighboring Guangdong, Hainan, Zhejiang, as well as in Japan, Taiwan, and southeast Asia, by 30 million people (6.2% of the population). Min forms the only branch of Chinese that cannot be directly derived from Middle Chinese. It is also the most diverse, with many of the varieties being mutually unintelligible.

There are two main groups: Coastal Min and Inland Min. Coastal Min includes the following languages: Eastern Min (闽东语/閩東語, mǐndōngyǔ/mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄; green), Hainanese (海南话/海南話, hǎinánhuà/hái-nâm-oe; purple), Leizhou Min (雷州话/雷州話, léizhōuhuà; dark blue), Pu-Xian Min (莆仙话/莆仙話, púxiānhuà/pó-sing-gṳ̂; teal), and Southern Min (闽南语/閩南語, mǐnnányǔ/bàn-lâm-gú; light blue). Fuzhou, a dialect of Eastern Min, is the prestige form.

Inland Min includes Northern Min (闽北/閩北, mǐnběi; red), Central Min (闽中语/閩中語, mǐnzhōngyǔ; orange), and Shao-Jiang Min (邵将/邵將, shàojiāng; brown). Jian’ou, a dialect of Northern Min, is the prestige form.

Min has the following features:

Coastal Min has seven tones: high level, middle level, low falling and rising, middle rising stopped, high falling, middle rising and falling, and high checked. Inland Min has only six; the high falling tone does not exist.
Most of its vocabulary corresponds to cognates in other Chinese languages, but it retains distinctive words that can be traced back to proto-Min and in which a semantic shift has occurred, such as鼎 (tián) which has preserved the original meaning of “cooking pot”, unlike in other varieties, where it became specialized to refer to ancient ceremonial tripods (dǐng).

Pinghua

Pinghua (平话/平話, pínghuà) languages are spoken in Guangxi by 7 million people (0.6% of the population). Some linguists treat Pinghua as a mixture of Yue and Xiang.

It includes the following two mutually unintelligible languages: Northern Pinghua (桂北平话/桂北平話, guìběipínghuà; yellow) and Southern Pinghua (桂南平话/桂南平話, guìnánpínghuà; orange). Tongdao, a dialect of Northern Pinghua, can be taken as representative.

Pinghua has the following features:

There are eight tones: high level, high rising, high falling, high checked, low level, low rising, low falling, and low checked.
Giving is usually expressed by the construction “give + theme + give + recipient”, while in Mandarin it is expressed using the construction “give + recipient + theme”.
There is no distinction between perfectiveand non-perfective negation (e.g., 没 [méi] versus 不 [bù] in Mandarin).
It has many loanwords from Zhuang, a Kra-Dai language also spoken in Guangxi.

Wu

Wu (吴语/吳語, wúyǔ/wu6 gniu6) languages are spoken in Shanghai and Zhejiang and neighboring Anhui, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi by 80 million people (6.1% of the population). Wu comprises hundreds of distinct spoken forms, many of which are not mutually intelligible.

There are two main groups: Northern Wu (北部吴语/北部吳語, běibùwúyǔ) and Southern Wu (南部吴语/南部吳語, nánbùwúyǔ). Northern Wu is also known as Taihu (吴语太湖片/吳語太湖片, wúyǔtàihúpiàn) and includes several dialects: Changzhou (常州话/常州話, chángzhōuhuà/zaon-tsei-who; light blue), Hangzhou (杭州话/杭州話, hángzhōuhuà/ɦaŋ-tsei-ɦu; light green), Huzhou (湖州话/湖州話, húzhōuhuà; dark yellow), Jiangyin (江阴话/江陰話, jiāngyīnhuà), Jinxiang (金乡话/金鄉話, jīnxiānghuà; light pink), Ningbo (宁波闲话/寧波閒話, níngbōxiánhuà/ɲìɲ-pó-eó; medium blue), Qi-Hai (沙地话/沙地話, shādìhuà), Shanghainese (上海话/上海話, shànghǎihuà/zaon6 he5 gho6; dark brown), Shaoxing (绍兴话/紹興話, shàoxīnghuà; dark blue), Suzhounese (苏州闲话/蘇州閒話, sūzhōuxiánhuà/sou-tseu ghé-ghô; light yellow), and Wuxi (无锡话/無錫話, wúxīhuà/mu1 sik1 wo3; purple). Shanghainese is taken as representative.

Southern Wu includes the following languages: Chu-Qu (处衢片/處衢片, chùqúpiàn; dark green), Taizhou (台州话, táizhōupiàn/t’e-tsiu wa; orange),Wenzhounese (温州话/溫州話, wēnzhōuhuà/ü-cōu-rōo; light brown), Wuzhou (婺州话/婺州話, wùzhōuhuà; dark pink), and Xuanzhou (宣州吴语/宣州吳語, xuānzhōuwúyǔ; red). Wenzhounese can be taken as representative.

Wu has the following features:

Northern Wu has five tones: high level, high rising, high checked, low level, and low checked. Southern Wu has eight, the aforementioned five plus low rising, high falling, and low falling.
It has inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns.
Classifiers take the place of genitive particles and articles:我支筆 (wǒzhībǐ) “my stick [of] pen” vs.我的筆 (wǒdebǐ) “my pen”.
The normal word order is SVO, like in Mandarin, but has a high occurrence of SOV and in some cases OSV.

Xiang

Xiang (湘语/湘語, xiāng/sian1 y3) languages are spoken in Guangxi and Hunan and neighboring Guizhou and Hubei by 38 million people (3% of the population). Xiang has been heavily influenced by Mandarin.

It includes the following languages: Hengzhou Xiang (杭州片, hángzhōupiàn; light blue), Ji-Xu Xiang (吉漵片, jíxùpiàn; pink), Old Xiang (娄邵片/婁邵片, lóushàopiàn; yellow),New Xiang (长益片/長益片, zhǎngyìpiàn; dark blue), and Yong-Quan Xiang (永全片, yǒngquánpiàn; green). Changsha, a dialect of New Xiang, can be taken as representative.

Xiang has the following features:

New Xiang has six tones: high level, low level, rising, high falling, low falling, and checked. Old Xiang only has five, missing the checked tone.
Some words differ from Mandarin, such as偕 (ha) instead of Mandarin全 (quán) “complete”.

Yue

Yue (粤语/粵語, yuèyǔ) languages are spoken in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as in southeast Asia, by 84 million people (5.6% of the population). Not all Yue varieties are mutually intelligible.

It includes the following languages: Gao-Yang (高阳方言/高陽方言, gāoyángfāngyán; dark purple),Gou-Lou (勾漏方言, gōulòufāngyán/ngaulau yut; light blue), Guangfu (广府话/廣府話, guǎngfǔhuà; pink), Qin-Lian (欽廉语言/欽廉語言, qīnliányǔyán/hamlim jijin; teal), Siyi (四邑方言, sìyìfāngyán/sei3 jap1 fong1 jin4; light purple), Yong-Xun (邕潯方言/邕浔方言, jungcam yut; green), and Wu-Hua (吳化方言, wúhuàfāngyán/ngfaa yut; dark blue). Cantonese, a dialect of Guangfu, is the prestige form.

Yue has the following features:

There are nine tones: high level, high rising, high falling,low falling, low rising, low level, high checked, low checked, and neutral checked.
While most Chinese languages form compounds consisting of a qualifier followed by a qualified element, Yue uses the reverse order. For example, the Mandarin word for“guest” is客人 (kèrén), but the same morphemes arre interchanged in Cantonese jɐn ha:k.
Cantonese uses the same word 邊個 (bīn-go), meaning “which one”, for both “who” and “which”.