About Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese is a group of similar Chinese language dialects spoken in the northern and southwestern regions of China. Since one of the dialects is spoken in Beijing, Mandarin Chinese is China's official language. Mandarin is distinctive from the other Chinese languages in phonology, timing and vocabulary.

Significance

There is no exact standard in the Chinese language for pronunciation or grammar. The language consists of many dialects consistent by region. "Mandarin Chinese" refers to a specific group of these dialects, and "standard Mandarin" is the chief dialect spoken in Beijing. Chinese who speak in other dialects know Mandarin and speak it as a second language. Therefore, Mandarin Chinese has the largest number of speakers of any language in the world.

Geography

The Mandarin dialects are indigenous to northern and most of southwestern China. As depicted in the map, Mandarin is spoken in the far northwestern and northeastern regions, but not particularly in the central northern area. Mandarin is also the official language of Taiwan and one of the four official languages of Singapore.

History

China's geographical regions led to the creation of the different dialects of the Chinese language. The regions separated by mountains and valleys developed their own dialect, but could not influence this dialect in other regions because the land's topography isolated them. The plains regions developed the Mandarin dialects, and due to the flatness of the land, the dialect could easily spread across the plains. The empire in the 17th century attempted to make the Beijing dialect the only dialect spoken all across China, but the movement failed. People in every region spoke their own dialect without a unified language up until the 20th century, when the Chinese government declared the Beijing dialect as the standard Mandarin and as the official language of the People's Republic. As a result, the dialect spread to the other regions as a second language.

Types

Mandarin consists of eight groups of related dialects: Beijing, Northeastern, Ji Lu, Jiao Liao, Zhongyuan, Lan Yin, Southwestern, and Jianghuai. In addition to these eight, some linguists consider Jin to be a ninth dialect of Mandarin.

Features

Mandarin distinguishes itself from the other Chinese languages in its phonology and vocabulary. For example, it's a stress timed language--whereas other Chinese languages are syllable timed--and also has a very polysyllabic vocabulary. The only other Chinese language with a larger polysyllabic vocabulary is Shanghainese. In addition, the pronouns and mood particles of Mandarin are different than in other Chinese dialects.