Spoken Chinese
| Chinese | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sinitic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Geographic distribution |
Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore and other areas with historic immigration from China | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Linguistic classification |
Sino-Tibetan
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Early forms
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| Subdivisions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ISO 639-2 / 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Glottolog | sini1245 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Primary branches of Chinese according to the Language Atlas of China
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 漢語 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 汉语 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Hànyǔ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Language of the Han" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Hànyǔ |
| Gwoyeu Romatzyh | Hannyeu |
| Wade–Giles | Han4-yü3 |
| IPA | [xân.ỳ] |
| Wu | |
| Romanization | Huu nyy |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Hon-yúh |
| Jyutping | Hon3-jyu5 |
| Southern Min | |
| Tâi-lô | Hàn-gí |
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local language varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. The differences are similar to those within the Romance languages, with variation particularly strong in the more rugged southeast. These varieties, often called "dialects", have been classified into seven to ten groups, the largest being Mandarin (e.g. Beijing dialect), Wu (e.g. Shanghainese), Min (e.g. Taiwanese Hokkien), and Yue (e.g. Cantonese).
Chinese varieties differ most in their phonology, and to a lesser extent in vocabulary and syntax. Southern varieties tend to have fewer initial consonants than northern and central varieties, but more often preserve the Middle Chinese final consonants. All have phonemic tones, with northern varieties tending to have fewer distinctions than southern ones. Many have tone sandhi, with the most complex patterns in the coastal area from Zhejiang to eastern Guangdong.
Standard Chinese takes its phonology from the Beijing dialect, with vocabulary from the Mandarin group and grammar based on literature in the modern written vernacular. It is the sole official language of both China and Taiwan, one of the four official languages of Singapore, and one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
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