Standard Chinese: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox language|boxsize=300px|pronunciation=[hwa.y˨˩˨]|nativename=華語|nation=[[China]]|name=Standard Chinese|fam1=Serican|fam2=Sinitic|fam3=Mandarin}}
'''Standard Chinese''' (華語, ''hwãü,'' /hwa.y/, lit. 'Chinese language'), commonly known as '''Mandarin,''' is a standard variety of Chinese used as the official language of [[China]]. It is based on the Mandarin dialect of Namging with significant influence from Cantonese. The current dialect began its standardization after the [[Canton War]] and was adopted as the official language and lingua franca of China in 1938. The language primarily written with Chinese characters, though informal Latin script is used in countries such as [[Tauland]] and [[Tussenland]].
== History ==
Modern Standard Chinese is a descendant of the Mandarin of the late Ming and [[Qing|Western Qing]] imperial courts, which were based on the dialect of the city of Namging. During the early 19th century, the basis for standard speech was gradually moving to Beiging. This process was interrupted with the [[Canton War]] of the 1850s. As a consequence, imperial Mandarin was split; the ancient Namging dialect remained prestigious in the southern [[Kingdom of Canton|Ye dynasty]], while the Beiging pronunciation quickly became popular in the post-war Qing dynasty and among emigrants to [[Poeja]] and [[Mongolia]]. The later half of the century saw the introduction of a large [[Cantonese]] influence on the Mandarin dialect of Namging. In a few generations, this resulted in numerous phonological changes, including the revival of the ''-m'' coda and ''ŋ-'' initial, [x] becoming a glottal [h], general de-palatalization, as well as the loss of any retroflex sounds acquired up until that point.
Starting in the 20th century, this new evolution of the Namging dialect was extensively studied and formalized. In 1938, with the abolition of the Qing and Ye dynasties, the new dialect was adopted as the national standard by the Chinese Republic.
== Phonology ==
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* The checked tone ''ʔ'' and ''-m'' codas are maintained. For example, 甘肅 is read as ''Gamsu'' /ka<u>m</u>su/.
*
* [ʃ, tʃ, tʃʰ] are allophones of /ɕ, tɕ, tɕʰ/, used mainly by some communities in southern China.
* Retroflexes found in Beiging Mandarin are merged into their alveolar counterparts.
==== Semi-vowels ====
Semi-vowels, also known as glides, can act as initials, medials, or finals in
{| class="wikitable"
!Glide
!Initial
!Medial
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|-
!/j/
|j
| colspan="2" |i
|-
!/ɥ/
|y
|
|—
|-
!/w/
| colspan="3" |w
|}
In final position, glides are considered to be part of diphthongs (for example, /s<u>a'''i'''</u>/ 塞). Meanwhile in medial position, glides often transform diphthongs into triphthongs (/s<u>ai</u>/ 塞 ''vs.'' /s<u>'''w'''ai</u>/ 帥).
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|}
==== Tones ====
Standard Chinese has five tones, along with a neutral tone (sometimes classified as toneless).
{| class="wikitable"
!No.
|1
|2
|3
|4
|5
|6
|-
!Diacritic
|ā
|á
|ã
|à
|ȧ
|a
|-
!Name
|陰平
|陽平
|上
|去
|入
|輕
|-
!Description
|Dark level
|Light level
|Rising
|Departing
|Entering
|Neutral
|-
!Contour
|/˥/ 55
|/˩˧/ 13
|/˨˩˨/ 212
|/˧˩/ 31
|/˥/ 5
|—
|-
!MC
|1
|2
|3
|5
| colspan="2" |—
|-
!Example
|巴 ''bā''
|麻 ''má''
|傻 ''sã''
|把 ''bà''
|札 ''zȧ''
|嗎 ''ma''
|}
Unlike more northern varieties of Mandarin, Standard Chinese preserves the entering tone (入, ''jù'') found in southern varieties of Mandarin and southern Chinese languages like [[Cantonese]]. The entering tone is realized as a glottal stop /ʔ/.
== Vocabulary ==
|