Spoken Chinese
Chinese is a family of closely-related but mutually unintelligible languages. These languages are known variously as f¨¡ngy¨¢n (regional languages), dialects of Chinese or varieties of Chinese. In all over 1.2 billion people speak one or more varieties of Chinese.
All varieties of Chinese belong to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages and each one has its own dialects and sub-dialects, which are more or less mutually intelligible.
Notable features
All varieties of Chinese are tonal. This means that each syllable can have a number of different meanings depending on the intonation with which it is pronounced. For example Mandarin has 4 tones, Cantonese has between 6 and 9 (it depends who you ask) and Taiwanese has 7 tones.
The major varieties of Chinese are mutually unintelligible, but most people in China and Taiwan who don't speak Mandarin as their first language, can speak or least understand it. However in Hong Kong and Macau few people speak Mandarin, so they tend to use English to communicate with people from other parts of China or Taiwan.
Each of the major varieties of Chinese has numerous dialects. For example, Mandarin can be divided into northern, southern and south-western dialects, which are more or less mutually intelligible.
Major varieties of Chinese include:
P?t¨nghu¨¤ (Mandarin)
Mandarin is spoken by possibly more people than any other language: over 1 billion. It is the main language of government, the media and education in China and Taiwan, and one of the four official languages in Singapore.
Further details
W¨²
W¨² is spoken in Zh¨¨ji¨¡ng and Ji¨¡ngs¨± provinces and in Sh¨¤ngh?i and Hong Kong by about 77 million people. Major dialects of W¨² include Shanghainese (Sh¨¤ngh?ih¨´a) and Suzhou (S¨±b¨¢i).
Introduction to Shanghainese (in Japanese)
http://plaza27.mbn.or.jp/~yilingmu/zhanhe
Yu¨¨ (Cantonese)
Cantonese is spoken by about 66 million people in Gu¨¢ngd¨ng and Gu¨¢ngx¨© provinces and H?in¨¢n island in China, and also in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and many other countries
Further details
M¨ªn N¨¢n (Southern Min)
M¨ªn N¨¢n is in the south of F¨´ji¨¤n province, Gu?ngd¨ng province, southern H?in¨¢n Island, in the south of Zh¨¨ji¨¡ng and Ji¨¡ngx¨© provinces, and also in Taiwan, Singapore and many other countries. The total number of speakers is approximately 49 million.
Further details
J¨¬ny?
J¨¬ny? is spoken mainly in Sh¨¡nx¨© province and also in Sh?nx¨© and H¨¦n¨¢n provinces by about 45 million people. It used to be considered as a dialect of Mandarin, but is now thought to be a separate variety of Chinese.
Hakka
Hakka is spoken in south eastern China, parts of Taiwan and in the New Territories of Hong Kong. There are also significant communities of Hakka speakers in such countries as the USA, French Guiana, Mauritius and the UK. The total number of Hakka speakers is roughly 40 million.
Further details
Xi¨¡ng (Hunanese)
Xi¨¡ng (Hunanese) is spoken mainly in H¨²n¨¢n province and also in S¨©chu¨¡n, Gu?ngx¨© and Gu?ngd¨ng provinces by about 36 million people.
G¨¤n
G¨¤n is spoken by about 20.5 million people in Ji¨¡ngx¨© province and in parts of H¨²b?i, ¨¡nhu¨©, H¨²n¨¢n and F¨´ji¨¤n provinces. It has some intelligibility with Mandarin and W¨². G¨¤n is the Classical Chinese name for Ji¨¡ngx¨© province.
M¨ªn B?i (Northern Min)
M¨ªn B?i has about 10,3 million speakers mainly in Northern F¨´ji¨¤n Province and Singapore. M¨ªn is the Classical Chinese name for F¨´ji¨¤n province and B?i means 'north' or 'northern'.
M¨ªn D¨ng (Eastern Min)
M¨ªn D¨ng is spoken mainly in east central F¨´ji¨¤n Province and also in Brunei, Indonesia (Java and Bali), Malaysia (Peninsular), Singapore, Thailand. The approximate number of native speakers is 250,000.
M¨ªn Zh¨ng (Central Min)
M¨ªn Zh¨ng is spoken mainly in central F¨´ji¨¤n Province.
Dungan (§¥§å?§Ñ§ß)
Dungan is spoken by the Muslim Hui people in China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. There are approximately 50,000 speakers. Dungan is the only variety of Chinese not with Chinese characters. Instead it is written with the Cyrillic alphabet.
Further details
P?-Xi¨¢n
P?-Xi¨¢n is spoken by about 6,000 people mainly in east central F¨´ji¨¤n Province and in Malaysia and Singapore.
Hu¨©zh¨u
Hu¨©zh¨u is spoken in southern ¨¡nhu¨© and northern Zh¨¨ji¨¡ng provinces. It used to be considered as a dialect of Mandarin, but is now thought to be a separate variety of Chinese.
Links
Glossika Chinese dialects - James Campbell's excellent introduction to all major varieties of Chinese and to many dialects and sub-dialects
http://www.glossika.com/en/dict/
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