Standard Chinese: Difference between revisions
Added phonology, romanization, introduction, infobox, history.
(Finalized consonants.) |
(Added phonology, romanization, introduction, infobox, history.) |
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{{Infobox language
| name = Standard Chinese
| image = Jiatai Era Mencius title page.jpg
| imagesize = 300px
| nativename = 華語
| pronunciation = [hway]
| states = [[China]]
| ethnicity = [[Chinese people]]
| fam1 = Serican
| script = Chinese characters
| nation = [[China]]
|boxsize=200px|fam2=Sinitic|fam3=Mandarin|fam4=Namging Mandarin}}'''Standard Chinese''' (華語, ''hwaü'', /hway/, lit. 'Chinese language'), commonly known as '''Mandarin''', is the standard variety of Chinese and official language of [[China]]. It is based on the Namging dialect of Mandarin with significant influence from Cantonese during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a result, today it poses a striking resemblance to the old court dialect of the Ming dynasty, leading some to refer to it as '''New Ming Mandarin''' (新明語). The current dialect began its genesis after the [[Canton War]] and formally organized during the early 20th century by Chinese linguists, eventually being selected by the Chinese republican government in 1938.
The language is written with Chinese characters and has possessed one officially recognized romanization system since the 1940s. Today, this standard variety is mostly spoken within China. Nevertheless, it has varying degrees of influence in countries such as [[Mongolia]], [[Serindia]], [[Soenda]], [[Poeja]], [[Tauland]], [[Viet Nam]], [[Pinang]], and the [[Westerzee|Westerzee province]] of [[Tussenland]], among others.
== History ==
The basis for the Standard Chinese of today began forming after the [[Canton War]], where the [[Qing|Qing dynasty]] was split into two states. At that point in time, the court dialect of the empire was mainly based on that of Namging, though there was a conscious shift in favor of the dialect of Beiging, the capital. As a result of the War, the two court dialects of Namging and Beiging were forcibly isolated from one another, with the former being used in the 'Kingdom of Canton' and the latter quickly being adopted by the Qing government of the north.
During the period of partition, the Namging dialect became increasingly influenced by Cantonese, which had been standardized and adopted as one of the primary languages of the southern government. Several phonetic shifts occurred in Namging Mandarin over these seven decades, with many of these changes resembling those of 17th century Mandarin. Notables ones include 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 from northern Mandarin dialects up until that point.
By the early 1920s, the new dialect of Namging (what now is Standard Chinese) began being studied by linguists in [[China]] as well as in [[Japan]] and [[Tauland]]. As a consequence of the coup d'État of Sinwei (辛未) in 1931, the Siehwei Society (國語復興協會) became increasingly successful in promoting the new Namging dialect as the ''lingua franca'' of a united Chinese Republic. Support from organizations in the Qing dynasty, Mongolia, Corea, and Japan allowed the Society to gain unparalleled prominence. Two years after the annexation of the Qing dynasty, the aforementioned dialect was designated the standard variety and official language of China in 1938.
== Geographic distribution ==
== Phonology ==
The phonemic inventory of Standard Chinese consists of 25 distinct phonemes, divided into 16 initial consonants, 3 common allophone initials, 3 semi-vowels/glides, and 37 finals.
[[File:Chinese Syllable Structure.png|thumb]]
==== Chinese syllables ====
In Chinese, syllables have the form of (CG)V(X) and can consist of a maximum of four parts:
* Initial (usually a consonant)
* Medial (a semi-vowel)
* Nucleus (a vowel, and is present in ''all'' syllables)
* Ending (a vowel or nasal consonant)
====
{| class="wikitable"
!
Line 16 ⟶ 46:
|-
! colspan="2" |Nasal
|m /m/
|n /n/
|
|ng /ŋ/
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |Stop
!<small>aspirated</small>
|p /pʰ/
|t /tʰ/
|
|k /kʰ/
| rowspan="2" |ʔ
|-
!<small>unaspirated</small>
|b /p/
|d /t/
|
|g /k/
|-
! rowspan="2" |Affricate
!<small>aspirated</small>
|
|c /tsʰ/
|ć /tɕʰ/
|
|
Line 46 ⟶ 76:
!<small>unaspirated</small>
|
|z /ts/
|ź /tɕ/
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Fricative
|f /f/
|s /s/
|ś /ɕ/
|
|h /h/
|-
! colspan="2" |Liquid
|
|l /l/
|
|
|
|}
* The checked tone ''ʔ'' and ''-m'' codas are maintained. For example, 甘肅 is read as ''Gamsu'' /ka<u>m</u>su/.
* [ts, tsʰ, s] are often palatalized to [tɕ, tɕʰ, ɕ] in front of front high vowels
* Retroflexes found in Beiging Mandarin are merged into their alveolar counterparts. Retroflex [ɻ] is often merged into [j].
====
Semi-vowels, also known as glides, can act as initials, medials, or finals in Standard Chinese syllables. They may have different orthographic representations depending on their position. [j, ɥ, w] are considered to be the three semivowels, corresponding to their vowel equivalents [i, y, u]. The table below shows how each glide sounds and appears orthographically in different positions.
{| class="wikitable"
!
!Initial
!Medial
!Final
|-
!/j/
|j [j]
|i [j]
|i [i]
|-
!/ɥ/
|y [ɥ]
|u [y]
|—
|-
!/w/
|w [w]
|w [w]
|w [u]
|}
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).
==== Finals ====
Standard Chinese is considered to possess six vowels, each with phonemic allophones depending on context.
{| class="wikitable"
!
!Front
!Central
!Back
|-
!Close
|i y
|
|u
|-
!Mid
|e
|
|o
|-
!Open
|
|a
|
|}
The following table displays the possible finals for the six vowels. In this analysis, the high vowels /i, u, y/ are fully phonemic and may form sequences with the nasal codas /m, n, ŋ/. As nucleuses, /u/ and /y/ are written as ''u'' and ''ü'' respectively.
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |Nucleus
! colspan="6" |/a/
! colspan="2" |/o/
! colspan="4" |/e/
! colspan="3" |/i/
! colspan="2" |/u/
! colspan="2" |/y/
|-
! colspan="2" |Coda
!∅
!/i/
!/u/
!/m/
!/n/
!/ŋ/
!∅
!/ŋ/
!∅
!/i/
!/n/
!/ŋ/
!∅
!/n/
!/ŋ/
!∅
!/ŋ/
!∅
!/n/
|-
! colspan="2" |∅
|a
|ai
|aw
|am
|an
|ang
|o
|ong
|e
|ei
|en
|eng
|i
|in
|ing
|u
|ung
|ü
|un
|-
! rowspan="3" |Medial
!/j/
|ia
|
|iaw
|
|ian
|iang
|
|iong
|ie
|
|
|
|
|
|
|iw
|
|
|
|-
!/w/
|wa
|wai
|
|
|wan
|wang
|wo
|
|
|wei
|wen
|weng
|wi
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!/ɥ/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|ue
|
|uen
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}
== Vocabulary ==
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