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Standard Mandarin is based on the Beijing dialect, which belongs to Mandarin (linguistics)|Mandarin, a group of Chinese dialects spoken across northern and southwestern China. Standard Mandarin itself is usually called "Mandarin" in non-academic, everyday usage, but linguistics|linguists use "Mandarin" to refer to a much larger and very diverse group of dialects spanning northern and southwestern China. This definition will be adopted by the rest of this article. Standard Mandarin is officially known in mainland China as Putonghua (Simplified Chinese: 普通话 Hanyu Pinyin: Pǔtōnghu?, literally "ordinary speech"), in Taiwan as Guoyu (Traditional Chinese: 國語 Tongyong Pinyin: Gu?yǔ, Wade-Giles: Kuo-y?, literally "national language"), and in Malaysia and Singapore as Huayu (Traditional Chinese: 華語 Simplified Chinese: 华语; Hanyu Pinyin: hu?yǔ, literally "the Chinese language"). All three terms are used interchangeably in Chinese communities around the world where different groups have come into contact. Since ancient history, the Chinese language has always consisted of a wide variety of dialects; hence prestige dialects and lingua francas have always been needed. Confucius, for example, used yǎy?n (雅言), or "elegant speech", rather than colloquial regional dialects; text during the Han Dynasty also referred to tōngyǔ (通語), or "common language". Rime books, which were written since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times. However, all of these standard dialects were probably unknown outside the educated elite; even among the elite, pronunciations may have been very different, as the unifying factor of all Chinese dialects, Classical Chinese, was a written standard, not a spoken one. The Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912) began to use the term guānhu? (官話), or "official speech", to refer to the speech used at the noble court|courts. It seems that during the early part of this period, the standard was based on the Nanjing dialect, but later the Beijing dialect became increasingly influential, despite the mix of officials and commoners speaking various dialects in the capital, Beijing. In the 17th century, the Empire had set up Orthoepy Academies (正音書院, Zhèngyīn Shūyuàn) in an attempt to make pronunciation conform to the Beijing standard. But these attempts had little success. As late as the 19th century the emperor had difficulty understanding some of his own ministers in court, who did not always try to follow any standard pronunciation. Nevertheless, by 1909, the dying Qing Dynasty had established the Beijing dialect as gu?yǔ (國語), or the "national language"; After the Republic of China was established in 1912, there was more success in promoting a common national language. At first there was an attempt to introduce elements from other Chinese dialects into the national language, in addition to those existing in Beijing dialect. But this was deemed too difficult, and in 1924 this attempt was abandoned and the Beijing dialect became the major source of standard national pronunciation, due to the status of that dialect as a prestigious dialect since the Qing Dynasty. Elements from other dialects continue to exist in the standard language, but as exceptions rather than the rule. The People's Republic of China, established in 1949, continued the effort. In 1955, standard Mandarin was renamed pǔtōnghu? (普通話), or "ordinary speech". (The name change was not recognized by the Republic of China which has governed only Taiwan and some surrounding islands since 1949). Since then, the standards used in mainland China and Taiwan have diverged somewhat, though they continue to remain essentially identical. In both mainland China and Taiwan, the elementary school education system is committed to teaching Mandarin, and this has contributed to the spread of standard Mandarin. As a result, standard Mandarin is now spoken fluently by most people in Mainland China and on Taiwan. In Hong Kong, the language of education and formal speech remains Cantonese (linguistics)|Cantonese but standard Mandarin is becoming increasingly influential. IPA notice The phonology of Standard Mandarin varies widely among speakers, as everyone (including national leaders) introduces elements of his/her own native dialect. By contrast, television and radio announcers are usually chosen for their pronunciation accuracy. Below is the phonology of standard Mandarin usually heard on television or radio broadcasts. Initials The following is the initial (linguistics)|initial inventory of Standard Mandarin as represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):
2 These are actually medials, not initials. Corresponding chart in:
For more complete information, showing how initials and finals interact, see this Zhuyin-IPA http://www.wfu.edu/~moran/Cathay_Cafe/IPA_NPA_4.htm chart. The vowel sounds in that chart have been verified against the official IPA: http://www.sil.org/computing/speechtools/softdev2/IPAhelp2/ipavowel2.htm site. IPA|j and IPA|w appear when a Final (linguistics)|final starting with a close vowel, like IPA|/i/ or IPA|/u/, begins a syllable without an initial. Some linguists analyze a IPA|ʁ when an open vowel like IPA|/a/ begins a syllable. These approximants are actually medials, the first part of the final. See the #Finals|Finals section below. The alveolo-palatal consonants IPA|tɕ tɕʰ ɕ are in complementary distribution (see minimal pair) with the alveolar consonants IPA|ts tsʰ s, retroflex consonants IPA|tʂ tʂʰ ʂ and velar consonants IPA|k kʰ x. As a result, some linguists prefer to classify IPA|tɕ tɕʰ ɕ as allophones of one of the three other sets, commonly of the last one in order to make the set IPA|k kʰ x phoneme|phonemically parallel to the sets IPA|p pʰ f and IPA|t tʰ l. IPA|w may be pronounced as IPA|ʋ, the labiodental approximant; this may be considered substandard, but it nevertheless occurs frequently. IPA|tɕ tɕʰ ɕ may be pronounced as IPA|tsj tsʰj sj, which is characteristic of the speech of young women, and also of some men. This is usually considered rather effeminate and may also be considered substandard. Finals The Final (linguistics)|final is a combination of a medial (or glide (linguistics)|glide, IPA|-i-, IPA|-u-, IPA|-y-), a syllable nucleus|nucleus, and a syllable coda|coda. The important feature of Mandarin finals is the contrast of IPA|/a/ and IPA|/ə/. Full rime table of Standard Mandarin in International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA:
Corresponding chart in:
Tones Mandarin, like almost all Chinese dialects, is a tonal language. This means that Tone (linguistics)|tone, just like consonants and vowels, are used to distinguish words from each other. The following are the 4 tones of Standard Mandarin:
#: a steady high sound, as if it were being sung instead of spoken. # Second tone, or rising tone (陽平/阳平 y?ngp?ng, literal meaning: yang-level), or linguistically, high-rising: #: is a sound that rises from mid-level tone to high (e.g., What?!) # Third tone (low tone, or low-falling-raising, 上聲/上声 shǎngshēng or sh?ngshēng, literal meaning: "up tone"): #: has a mid-low to low descent, in some contexts then followed by a rising pitch. It is similar to saying "w-e-l-l" thoughtfully or as if inviting an answer. # Fourth tone, falling tone (去聲/去声 q?shēng, literal meaning: "away tone"), or high-falling: #: features a sharp downward accent ("dipping") from high to low, and is a shorter tone, similar to curt commands. (e.g., Stop!)
Other pitch shapes sometimes called tones:
Most romanizations represent the tones as diacritics on the vowels (e.g., Pinyin#Tones|Pinyin, MPS II and Tongyong Pinyin). Zhuyin uses diacritics as well. Others, like Wade-Giles, uses superscript number at the end of each syllable. Representation of Chinese tone marks/numbers is rarely practised outside textbooks. Gwoyeu Romatzyh is a rare example where tones are not represented as special symbols, but as true alphabet letters (hence creating a very complex orthography). To listen to the tones, see http://www.wku.edu/~shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htm http://www.wku.edu/~shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htm (click on the blue-red yin yang symbol). Pronunciation also varies with context according to the rules of tone sandhi. The most prominent phenomenon of this kind is when there are two third tones in immediate sequence, in which case the first of them changes to a second tone. If there are three third tones in series, the first may or may not be converted to a second tone, depending on the preference of the speaker and the dialect area. Relationship between Middle Chinese and modern tones: V- = phonation|unvoiced initial (linguistics)|initial consonant L = sonorant initial consonant V+ = phonation|voiced initial consonant (not sonorant)
It is known that if the two morphemes of a compound word cannot be ordered by grammar, the order of the two is usually determined by tones — Yin Ping (1), Yang Ping (2), Shang (3), Qu (4), and Ru, which is the plosive-ending tone that has already disappeared. Below are some compound words that show this rule. Tones are shown in parentheses, and R indicates Ru. 左右 (34) 南北 (2R) 輕重 (14) 貧富 (24) 凹凸 (1R) 喜怒 (34) 哀樂 (1R) 生死 (13) 死活 (3R) 陰陽 (12) 明暗 (24) 毀譽 (34) 褒貶 (13) 離合 (2R) 集散 (24) RCL Ever since the first Western world|Westerners entered China and tried to learn Mandarin, the need for a phonetic transcription system to record the pronunciation of Chinese characters became apparent. Over the years, many such systems have been proposed. The first to be widely accepted was the Wade-Giles system, named after its 19th century inventors. Postal System Pinyin, standardized in 1906, is a similar and somewhat irregular system used predominantly for place names. These two systems are still in use today, but they are rapidly losing ground to Hanyu Pinyin. They are now mostly encountered in older textbooks, histories, etc. In the 20th century, Chinese linguists proposed various transcription (linguistics)|transcription systems, one of which even introduced a whole new syllabic alphabet: the Zhuyin system (Bopomofo). The most successful of these transcription systems was Pinyin|Hanyu Pinyin, which was accepted as the official transcription system for the Chinese language by the PRC in 1958 and later by the United Nations and other international organizations. During the 1950s, there were plans for Pinyin to supersede the Chinese characters. These plans, however, were abandoned, due to the prevalence of homonymic morphemes in Chinese (as well as the reliance of written Chinese forms, especially Classical Chinese, on disambiguation of homonyms via different logographs), the link between the various Chinese languages provided by the logographic system, and the long and close association between the writing system and the literature and culture of China. A variety of transcription systems are used on Taiwan. The ROC central government adopted Tongyong Pinyin in 2002, but has permitted local governments to override that decision in favor of their own preferred romanization systems. Zhuyin is used as the method for teaching pronunciation of characters and compounds in schools. Efforts to phase out this system in favor of Pinyin have stalled due to disagreements over which form of pinyin to use, and the massive effort needed to produce new educational materials and to completely retrain teachers. A less popular and outdated Romanization is the Yale Romanization. See Chinese grammar. By the official definition of the People's Republic of China, standard Mandarin uses:
In theory the Republic of China defines standard Mandarin differently, though in reality the differences are minor and are concentrated mostly in the tonal language|tones of a small minority of words. Although Chinese speakers make a clear distinction between Standard Mandarin and the Beijing dialect, there are aspects of Beijing dialect that have made it into the official standard. Standard Mandarin has a T-V distinction between the polite and informal versions of you, that comes from Beijing dialect. In addition there is a distinction between "z?nmen" (we including the listener) and "wŏmen" (we not including the listener). In practice, these distinctions are almost never used by most Chinese. The national standard can be very different from a local Mandarin speech, to the point of being unintelligible. In addition, since standard Mandarin is taught as a second language across all China, it is also very common for two people who both believe themselves to be speaking standard Mandarin to require a translator. Nevertheless, efforts by the PRC, ROC, and Singapore to promote standard Mandarin as the standard tongue have greatly boosted the number of standard Mandarin speakers. To the dismay of non-Mandarin speakers, the predominant role of standard Mandarin has led to the misidentification of Mandarin as the only "Chinese language". Although both Mainland China and Taiwan use standard Mandarin as the official language and promote its nationwide use, there is no official interest or intent in either location to have standard Mandarin replace local dialect, and as a practical matter, standard Mandarin is still far from supplanting the local dialects that are in daily use in many locations, particularly in the southern provinces of Mainland China or on Taiwan itself. Speaking only standard Mandarin in these areas is widely regarded as a significant social handicap; many Chinese language speakers there, particularly the older people, do not speak standard Mandarin very well or at all. In the predominantly Han Chinese|Han areas in Mainland China, the interaction between standard Mandarin and the local Chinese dialects has generally not been controversial. Although the use of standard Mandarin is encouraged as the common working language, the People's Republic of China has attempted to be sensitive to the status of local dialects and has not discouraged their use. One example of this is Mao Zedong himself, who often spoke in Xiang (linguistics)|Xiang, a category of Chinese that does not even fall within the wider category of regional Mandarin (linguistics)|Mandarin dialects. Many native speakers of Chinese find Mao's spoken language to be largely incomprehensible, even when speaking in formal occasions. Standard Mandarin, however, is used very commonly for logistical reasons in that it is often the only means of communications between people from different areas. In many parts of southern China, the linguistic diversity is so large that even people from neighboring cities find it difficult to talk to each other in the local form of Chinese, thereby requiring the use of a lingua franca such as standard Mandarin. Curiously the use of standard Mandarin in the 20th century has supplanted the use of pidgin English which was used as a common language in some parts of southern China in the 18th and 19th century. On Taiwan, the relationship between standard Mandarin and local dialects, particularly Taiwanese (linguistics)|Taiwanese has been more heated. Until the 1980s the government discouraged the use of Taiwanese, even portraying it as inferior. This produced a backlash in the 1990s. Although some more extreme supporters of Taiwan independence tend to be opposed to standard Mandarin in favor of Taiwanese, efforts to replace standard Mandarin either with Taiwanese or with a multi-lingual standard have remained stalled. Note that while the term H?nyǔ (漢語; simplified: 汉语), or "the Han Chinese language", is sometimes used to refer to just standard Mandarin, it is more precisely used to refer to all variants of Chinese, since they are, after all, all spoken by Han Chinese. Some speakers of Hakka (linguistics)|Hakka, for example, object that their own dialect should carry the name Hanyu, as its grammar is closer to that of ancient texts. See also:
Accents Most Chinese (Beijingers included) speak Standard Mandarin with elements of their own dialects (i.e. their "accents") mixed in. For example, natives of Beijing, add a final "er" (IPA|/ɻ/) — commonly used as a diminutive — sound to vocabulary items that other speakers would leave unadorned (兒音/儿音; pinyin: ?ryīn). On the other hand, speakers from northeastern or southern China often mix up zh ch sh and z c s, because their own home dialects often do not make these distinctions. See List of Chinese dialects for a list of articles on individual Chinese dialects and how their features differ from Standard Mandarin. From an official point of view, standard Mandarin is theoretically something like a lingua franca — a way for Han Chinese and List of Chinese nationalities|non-Han ethnic groups speaking a wide variety of mutually unintelligible of languages to communicate with each other. The very name of "Putonghua", or "ordinary speech", reinforces this idea. In implementation, however, standard Mandarin is sometimes given the aura of the "only right language", and other languages or dialects, both Chinese spoken language|Chinese and non-Chinese, have shown signs of greatly losing ground to standard Mandarin, to the chagrin of many local culture proponents. On Taiwan, Guoyu (national language) continues to be the official term for standard Mandarin. The term Guoyu is rarely used in Mainland China, because declaring a Beijing dialect based standard to be the national language would be deemed unfair to other Chinese dialects and ethnic minorities. Instead the term Putonghua (ordinary speech), with the implication that Putonghua is simply a lingua franca. Some in Taiwan, especially proponents of Taiwan independence also object to the term Guoyu to refer to standardized Mandarin on the grounds that the "nation" referred to in the name of the language is China and that Taiwan is or should be independent. They prefer to refer to Mandarin with the terms Beijing dialect or Zhongwen (writing of China). As with most things political in Taiwan, some support the name for precisely the same reasons that others oppose them. In December 2004, the first survey of language use in the People's Republic of China revealed that only 53% of its population could communicate in Standard Mandarin. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/26/content_403419.htm (China Daily) book Chinese_language Category:Chinese language Category:Languages of Singapore Category:Tonal languages Category:December 2004 news bg:Мандарин da:Mandarin (sprog) de:Mandarin es:Chino mandar?n fr:Mandarin he:מנדרינית תקנית id:Bahasa Mandarin ja:普通話 la:Lingua_Sinensis_Mandarinica nl:Mandarijn (taal) pl:Putonghua hu:Mandarin nyelv pt:Mandarim simple:Mandarin language sv:Standardkinesiska th:ภาษาจีนกลาง zh:普通话 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Standard Mandarin".
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