Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 官话; traditional Chinese: 官話; pinyin: Guānhuà; literally "speech of officials") is a group of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China. Because Mandarin mainly includes speech groups found in the north, the term "northern dialect(s)" (simplified Chinese: 北方话; traditional Chinese: 北方 話; pinyin: Běifānghuà) also names this language group on an informal basis.
When the Mandarin group is taken as one language, as is often done in academic literature, it has more native speakers than any other language. For most of Chinese history the capital has been within the Mandarin area, making these dialects very influential. Mandarin dialects, particularly the Beijing dialect, form the basis of Standard Chinese, which is also known as "Mandarin".
Name
The word "mandarin" (from Portuguese mandarim, from Malay [məntəˈri], from Hindi mantri, from Sanskrit mantrin meaning "minister or counselor") originally meant an official of the Chinese empire.[3] As their home dialects were varied and often mutually unintelligible, these officials communicated using a Koiné based on various northern dialects. When Jesuit missionaries learned this standard language in the 16th century, they called it Mandarin, from its Chinese name Guānhuà (官话/官話) "speech of officials".[4]
In everyday English, "Mandarin" refers to Standard Chinese (Pǔtōnghuà / Guóyǔ / Huáyǔ), which is often called simply "Chinese". Standard Chinese is based on the particular Mandarin dialect spoken in Beijing, with some lexical and syntactic influence from other Mandarin dialects. It is the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the official language of the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan), one of the four official languages of Singapore. It also functions as the language of instruction in the PRC and in Taiwan. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, under the name "Chinese". The term Guānhuà is considered an archaic name for the standard language by Chinese speakers of today.
This article uses the term "Mandarin" in a sense used by linguists, referring to the diverse group of Mandarin dialects spoken in northern and southwestern China, which Chinese linguists call Guānhuà. The alternative term Běifānghuà (simplified Chinese: 北方话; traditional Chinese: 北方話), or Northern dialect(s), is used less and less among Chinese linguists. By extension, the term "Old Mandarin" is used by linguists to refer to the northern dialects recorded in materials from the Yuan dynasty.
Native speakers who are not academic linguists may not recognize that the variants they speak are classified in linguistics as members of "Mandarin" (or so-called "Northern Dialects") in a broader sense. Within Chinese social or cultural discourse, there is not a common "Mandarin" identity based on language; rather, there are strong regional identities centred on individual dialects because of the wide geographical distribution and cultural diversity of their speakers. Speakers of forms of Mandarin other than the standard typically refer the variety they speak by a geographic name, for example Sichuan dialect, Hebei dialect or Northeastern dialect, all being regarded as distinct from the "Standard Chinese" (Putonghua).
As with all other varieties of the Chinese language, there is significant dispute as to whether Mandarin is a language or a dialect. See Varieties of Chinese for more on this issue
The present variations of the Chinese language developed out of the different ways in which dialects of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese evolved. Traditionally seven major groups of dialects have been recognized. Aside from Mandarin, the other six are Wu Chinese, Hakka Chinese, Min Chinese, Xiang Chinese, Yue Chinese and Gan Chinese.[5] In 1985 Li Rong suggested that the Jin dialects should be considered a separate branch.
History
The present variations of the Chinese language developed out of the different ways in which dialects of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese evolved. Traditionally seven major groups of dialects have been recognized. Aside from Mandarin, the other six are Wu Chinese, Hakka Chinese, Min Chinese, Xiang Chinese, Yue Chinese and Gan Chinese.[5] In 1985 Li Rong suggested that the Jin dialects should be considered a separate branch.
When the Mandarin group is taken as one language, as is often done in academic literature, it has more native speakers than any other language. For most of Chinese history the capital has been within the Mandarin area, making these dialects very influential. Mandarin dialects, particularly the Beijing dialect, form the basis of Standard Chinese, which is also known as "Mandarin".
Name
The word "mandarin" (from Portuguese mandarim, from Malay [məntəˈri], from Hindi mantri, from Sanskrit mantrin meaning "minister or counselor") originally meant an official of the Chinese empire.[3] As their home dialects were varied and often mutually unintelligible, these officials communicated using a Koiné based on various northern dialects. When Jesuit missionaries learned this standard language in the 16th century, they called it Mandarin, from its Chinese name Guānhuà (官话/官話) "speech of officials".[4]
In everyday English, "Mandarin" refers to Standard Chinese (Pǔtōnghuà / Guóyǔ / Huáyǔ), which is often called simply "Chinese". Standard Chinese is based on the particular Mandarin dialect spoken in Beijing, with some lexical and syntactic influence from other Mandarin dialects. It is the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the official language of the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan), one of the four official languages of Singapore. It also functions as the language of instruction in the PRC and in Taiwan. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, under the name "Chinese". The term Guānhuà is considered an archaic name for the standard language by Chinese speakers of today.
This article uses the term "Mandarin" in a sense used by linguists, referring to the diverse group of Mandarin dialects spoken in northern and southwestern China, which Chinese linguists call Guānhuà. The alternative term Běifānghuà (simplified Chinese: 北方话; traditional Chinese: 北方話), or Northern dialect(s), is used less and less among Chinese linguists. By extension, the term "Old Mandarin" is used by linguists to refer to the northern dialects recorded in materials from the Yuan dynasty.
Native speakers who are not academic linguists may not recognize that the variants they speak are classified in linguistics as members of "Mandarin" (or so-called "Northern Dialects") in a broader sense. Within Chinese social or cultural discourse, there is not a common "Mandarin" identity based on language; rather, there are strong regional identities centred on individual dialects because of the wide geographical distribution and cultural diversity of their speakers. Speakers of forms of Mandarin other than the standard typically refer the variety they speak by a geographic name, for example Sichuan dialect, Hebei dialect or Northeastern dialect, all being regarded as distinct from the "Standard Chinese" (Putonghua).
As with all other varieties of the Chinese language, there is significant dispute as to whether Mandarin is a language or a dialect. See Varieties of Chinese for more on this issue
The present variations of the Chinese language developed out of the different ways in which dialects of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese evolved. Traditionally seven major groups of dialects have been recognized. Aside from Mandarin, the other six are Wu Chinese, Hakka Chinese, Min Chinese, Xiang Chinese, Yue Chinese and Gan Chinese.[5] In 1985 Li Rong suggested that the Jin dialects should be considered a separate branch.
History
The present variations of the Chinese language developed out of the different ways in which dialects of Old Chinese and Middle Chinese evolved. Traditionally seven major groups of dialects have been recognized. Aside from Mandarin, the other six are Wu Chinese, Hakka Chinese, Min Chinese, Xiang Chinese, Yue Chinese and Gan Chinese.[5] In 1985 Li Rong suggested that the Jin dialects should be considered a separate branch.
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