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Sinitic languages
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{{Short description|Branch of Sino-Tibetan languages}}{{Distinguish|Semitic languages}}{{about||the sociolinguistic treatment of Chinese|Varieties of Chinese|other languages spoken in China|Languages of China}}- the content below is remote from Wikipedia
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Population
Over 91% of the Chinese population speaks a Sinitic language.BOOK, Routledge Encyclopedia of the Chinese language: Mandarin and other Sinitic languages, 605â628, 2017, Routledge, Oxford, Chan, Sin-Wai, Chappell, Hilary, Li, Lan, Approximately 1.52 billion people are speakers of the Chinese macrolanguage, of whom about three-quarters speak a Mandarin variety. Estimates of the number of global speakers of Sinitic branches as of 2018â19, both native and non-native, are listed below:WEB,weblink Chinese, {| class="wikitable sortable"! Branch !! Speakers !{{abbr|pct.|percent}}Languages
{{further|List of varieties of Chinese}}File:ChineseInST.svg|thumb|L1 speakers of Chinese and other Sino-Tibetan languages according to EthnologueEthnologueDialectologist Jerry Norman estimated that there are hundreds of mutually unintelligible Sinitic languages.{{sfnp|Norman|2003|p=72}} They form a dialect continuum in which differences generally become more pronounced as distances increase, though there are also some sharp boundaries.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=189â190}} The Sinitic languages can be divided into Macro-Bai languages and Chinese languages, and the following is one of many potential ways of subdividing these languages. Some varieties, such as Shaozhou Tuhua, are hard to classify, and thus are not included in the following briefs.Macro-Bai languages
This is a language family first proposed by linguist Zhengzhang Shangfang,JOURNAL, è¡å®¶è¯ç½è¯å ³ç³»åè¯æ ¹æ¯è¾, Zhengzhang, Shangfang, 2010, ç 究ä¹ä¹, 2, 389â400, Shanghai, Shanghai Educational Publishing House, and was expanded to include Longjia and Luren.BOOK, è¡å®¶çèªè¨, 1984, è²´å·çæ°æèå¥å·¥ä½éèªè¨çµ, BOOK, è²´å·çæ°æèå¥å·¥ä½é, åé¾äººï¼å京-é¾å®¶ï¼æå¥åé¡èª¿æ¥å ±å, 1984, It likely split off from the rest of Sinitic during the Old Chinese period.JOURNAL, How Old is the Chinese in Bái?, Gong, Xun, Paris, 6 November 2015, The languages included are all considered minority languages in China and are spoken in the Southwest.BOOK, è²´å·çå¿ æ°æå¿, è²´å·æ°æåºç社, 2002, Guiyang, BOOK, ç½è¯ç®å¿, Xu, Lin, Zhao, Yansun, 1984, æ°æå°å·å» , The languages are: All other Sinitic languages henceforth would be considered Chinese.Chinese
The Chinese branch of the family is classified into at least seven main families. These families are classified based on five main evolutionary criteria:- The evolution of the historical fully muddy ({{zhi|t=å ¨æ¿|s=å ¨æµ|p=quánzhuó}}) initials
- The distribution of rimes across the four tone qualities, as conditioned by voicing and aspiration of initials
- The evolution of the checked ({{zhi|c=å ¥|p=rù}}) tone category
- The loss or retention of coda position plosives and nasals
- The palatalisation of the {{transliteration|zh|jià n}} initial ({{zhi|c=è¦æ¯|p=jià nmÇ}}) in front of high vowels
Mandarin
Varieties of Mandarin are used in the Western Regions, the Southwest, Huguang, Inner Mongolia, Central Plains and the Northeast, by around three-quarters of the Sinitic-speaking population. Historically, the prestige variety has always been Mandarin, which is still reflected to this day in Standard Chinese.BOOK, Diversity in Sinitic Languages, Chappell, Hilary M., Oxford University Press, 9780198723790, 2015, In fact, Standard Chinese is now an official language of the Republic of China, People's Republic of China, Singapore and United Nations. Re-population efforts, such as that of the Qing dynasty in the Southwest, tended to involve Mandarin speakers.BOOK, Tsung, Linda, 2014, Language Power and Hierarchy: Multilingual Education in China, Bloomsbury Publishing, Classification of Mandarin lects has undergone several significant changes, though nowadays it is commonly divided as such, based on the distribution of the historical checked tone:- Northeastern
- Beijing (sometimes considered part of Northeastern)JOURNAL, Lin, Tao, 1987, å京å®è¯åºçåå, æ¹è¨, 3, 166â172, 0257-0203, BOOK, Zhang, Shifang, 2010, å京å®è¯è¯é³ç 究, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, 978-7-5619-2775-5,
- Jiaoliao (sometimes "Peninsular")
- Jilu (sometimes "Northern")
- Central Plains (or "Zhongyuan")
- Lanyin (sometimes "Northwestern" and considered part of Central Plains)
- Jin (often considered its own top-level group due to the Language Atlas of China)
- Southwestern (sometimes "Upper Yangtse")
- Jianghuai (or "Lower Yangtze", sometimes "Huai", "Southern" or "Southeastern")
Northeastern and Beijing Mandarin
Northeastern Mandarin is spoken in Heilongjiang, Jilin, most of Liaoning and northeastern Inner Mongolia, whereas Beijing Mandarin is spoken in northern Hebei, most of Beijing, parts of Tianjin and Inner Mongolia. The two families' most notable features are the heavy use of rhotic erhua and seemingly random distribution of the dark checked tone, and generally having four tones with the contours of high flat, rising, dipping, and falling.{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"Jilu Mandarin
Jilu Mandarin is spoken in southern Hebei and western Shandong, and is often represented with Jinannese.BOOK, æ¼¢èªæ¹è¨è©å½, 1995, è¯æåºç社, å京大å¸ä¸åèªè¨æå¸ç³», Notable cities that use Jilu Mandarin lects include Cangzhou, Shijiazhuang, Jinan and Baoding.BOOK, æ²³åçå¿ æ¹è¨å¿, æ¹å¿åºç社, 2005, Wu, Jizhang, Tang, Jianxiong, Chen, Shujing, JOURNAL, å±±æ±æ¹è¨ç 究, 2002, 3, Qian, Zengyi, Characteristically Jilu Mandarin features include merging the dark checked into the dark level tone, the light checked into light level or departing based on the manner of articulation of the initial, and vowel breaking in tong rime series' ({{zhi|c=éæ}}) checked-tone words, among other features.Jilu Mandarin can be classified into Baotang, Shiji, Canghui and Zhangli.BOOK, æ¼¢èªå®è©±æ¹è¨ç 究, Qian, Zengyi, 2010, é½é¯æ¸ç¤¾, Zhangli is of note due to its preservation of a separate checked tone.Jiaoliao Mandarin
(File:Jiaoliao.png|thumb|Distribution of Jiaoliao Mandarin varieties)Jiaoliao Mandarin is spoken in the Jiaodong and Liaodong Peninsulae, which includes the cities of Dalian and Qingdao, as well as several prefectures along the China-Korea border. Like Jilu Mandarin, its light checked tone is merged into light level or departing based on the manner of articulation of the initial, though its dark checked is merged into the rising. Its {{zhi|p=rì}} initial ({{zhi|c=æ¥æ¯}}) terms are pronounced with a null initial (apart from open {{zhi|p=zhÇ}} rime series ({{zhi|c=æ¢æéå£}}) finals), unlike the {{IPA|/Ê/}} of Northern and Beijing Mandarin.BOOK, çå¹³æ¹è¨è©å ¸, Luo, Futeng, 1997, æ±èæè²åºç社, Based on, for example, the pronunciation of the palatalized {{zhi|p=jià n}} initial ({{zhi|c=è¦æ¯}}), Jiaoliao Mandarin can be divided into Qingzhou, Denglian and Gaihuan areas.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"! !! Yantai !! Weihai !! Qingdao !! Dalian !! GlossCentral Plains and Lanyin Mandarin
Central Plains Mandarin is spoken in the Central Plains of Henan, southwestern Shanxi, southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu, as well as most of Shaanxi, southern Ningxia and Gansu and southern Xinjiang, in famous cities such as Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Xuzhou, Xi'an, Xining and Lanzhou.BOOK, æ´é½æ¹è¨ç 究, He, Wei, 社æç§å¸æç»åºç社, June 1993, BOOK, å¾å·æ¹è¨è©å ¸, æ±èæè²åºç社, Su, Xiaoqing, Lü, Yongwei, December 1996, 7534328837, BOOK, 西寧æ¹è¨è©å ¸, Zhang, Chengcai, December 1994, æ±èæè²åºç社, 7534322936, Central Plains Mandarin lects merge the historical checked tones with a lesser muddy ({{zhi|c=次æ¿}}) and clear ({{zhi|c=æ¸ }}) initial together with the rising tone, and those with a fully muddy ({{zhi|c=å ¨æ¿}}) initial are merged with the light level tone.Lanyin Mandarin, spoken in northern Ningxia, parts of Gansu and northern Xinjiang, is sometimes grouped together with Central Plains Mandarin due to its merged lesser light and dark checked tones, though it is realised as a departing tone.Subdivision of Central Plains Mandarin is not fully agreed upon, though one possible subdivision sees 13 divisions, namely Xuhuai, Zhengkai, Luosong, Nanlu, Yanhe, Shangfu, Xinbeng, Luoxiang, Fenhe, Guanzhong, Qinlong, Longzhong and Nanjiang.BOOK, ä¸åå®è©±åå, He, Wei, Beijing, ä¸å社æç§å¸é¢èªè¨ç 究æ, Lanyin Mandarin, on the other hand, is divided as Jincheng, Yinwu, Hexi and Beijiang. The Dungan language is a collection of Central Plains Mandarin varieties spoken in the former Soviet Union.Jin
(File:Jinyufen qu.png|thumb|Distribution of Jin varieties)Jin is spoken in most of Shanxi, western Hebei, northern Shaanxi, northern Henan and central Inner Mongolia, often represented by Taiyuannese. It was first proposed as a lect separate from the rest of Mandarin by Li Rong, where it was proposed as lects in and around Shanxi with a checked tone, though this stance is not without disagreement.BOOK, Hou, Jing, ç¾ä»£æ¼¢èªæ¹è¨æ¦è«, ä¸æµ·æè²åºç社, 2002, 46, BOOK, 1998, Wang, Futang, æ¼¢èªæ¹è¨èªé³çæ¼è®å層次, Beijing, èªæç 究, Jin varieties also often has disyllabic words derived from syllable splitting (åé³è©), through the infixation of {{IPA|/(u)ÉÊ l/}}.{{fs interlinear|indent=2|笨 {} è æ£|pÉÅê â pÉÊê lÉÅê|'stupid'}}{{fs interlinear|indent=2|滾 {} 骨 æ|êkÊÅ â kuÉÊê êlÊÅ|'to roll'}}As per the Language Atlas by Li, Jin is divided into Dabao, Zhanghu, Wutai, Lüliang, Bingzhou, Shangdang, Hanxin, and Zhiyan branches.Southwestern Mandarin
Spoken in Yunnan, Guizhou, northern Guangxi, most of Sichuan, southern Gansu and Shaanxi, Chongqing, most of Hubei and bordering parts of Hunan, as well as Kokang of Myanmar and parts of northern Thailand, Southwestern Mandarin speakers take up the most area and population of all Mandarinic language groups, and would be the eighth most spoken language in the world if separated from the rest of Mandarin. Southwestern Mandarinic tends to not have retroflex consonants, and merges all checked tone categories together. With the exception of Minchi, which has a standalone checked category, the checked tone is merged with another category. Representative lects include Wuhannese and Sichuanese, and sometimes Kunmingnese.Southwestern Mandarin tends to be split as Chuanqian, Xishu, Chuanxi, Yunnan, Huguang and Guiliu branches. Minchi is sometimes separated out as a remnant of Old Shu.JOURNAL, Zhou, Jixu, èªè¨ç 究, 3, 2012, å路話åæ¹å»£è©±çèªé³ç¹é»,Huai
(File:Dialect Map of Lower Yangtze Mandarin.png|thumb|Distribution of Huai varieties)Huai is spoken in central Anhui, northern Jiangxi, far western and eastern Hubei and most of Jiangsu. Due to its preservation of a checked tone, some linguists believe that Huai ought to be treated as a top-level group, like Jin. Representative lects tend to be Nanjingnese, Hefeinese and Yangzhounese. The Huai of Nanjing has likely served as a national prestige during the Ming and Qing periods,BOOK, æ¼¢èªæ¹è¨å¸å¤§è©å ¸, 廣æ±æè²åºç社, 2017, 150, 9787554816332, though this viewpoint is not supported by all linguists.JOURNAL, ã西åè³ç®è³ãé³ç³»åºç¤éå京æ¹è¨è£è, Zeng, Xiaoyu, èªè¨ç§å¸, 2014, 4, The Language Atlas divides Huai into Tongtai, Huangxiao, and Hongchao areas, with the latter further split into Ninglu and Huaiyang. Tongtai, being geographically located furthest west, has the most significant Wu influence, such as in its distribution of historical voiced plosive series.BOOK, åéæ¹è¨è©å ¸, æ±è人æ°åºç社, Nanjing, Tao, Guoliang, {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"! rowspan=2| !! colspan=2|Tongtai !! colspan=4|Non-TongtaiYue
(File:Ping and Yue dialect map.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Distribution of Yue varieties (including Pinghua))Yue Chinese is spoken by around 84 million people, in western Guangdong, eastern Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and parts of Hainan, as well as overseas communities such as Kuala Lumpur and Vancouver. Famous lects such as Cantonese and Taishanese belong to this family. Yue Chinese lects generally possess long-short distinctions in their vowels, which is reflected in their almost universally split dark checked and often split light checked tones. They generally also tend to preserve all three checked plosive finals and three nasal finals. The status of Pinghua is uncertain, and some believe its two groups, Northern and Southern, should be listed under Yue,JOURNAL, Lin, Yi, 廣西çç²µæ¹è¨, 欽å·å¸é¢å¸å ±, 2016, 6, 31, 38â42, though this standpoint is rejected by some.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|+Checked tone contours in Yue lects! rowspan=2|Tone !! colspan=2|Dark !! colspan=2|LightHakka
Hakka Chinese is a direct result of several migration waves from Northern China to the South,WEB, The Hakka People > Historical Background,weblink dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20190909162739weblink">weblink 2019-09-09, 2010-06-11, edu.ocac.gov.tw, en, and is spoken in eastern Guangdong, parts of Taiwan, western Fujian, Hong Kong, southern Jiangxi, as well as scattered points in the rest of Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi and Hainan, along with overseas communities such as in West Kalimantan and Bangka Belitung Islands in Indonesia, by an estimated total of 44 million people. Some believe that Hakka is closely related to other groups, such as Gan, Yue, or Tongtai.BOOK, Peng, Xinyi, æ±è¥¿å®¢è´èªçç¹æ®é³é»ç¾è±¡èçµæ§è®é·, åç«ä¸è大å¸ä¸åæå¸ç 究æ, 2010, BOOK, Lu, Guoyao, é¯åå ¯èªè¨å¸è«æé·客ãè´ãéæ³°æ¹è¨æºæ¼åæéèªèªª, 123â135, æ±èæè²åºç社, 2003, 7534354994, BOOK, Sagart, Lawrence, March 2011, Chinese dialects classified on shared innovations, Hakka varieties generally have no voiced plosive initials and preserve the historical {{zhi|p=rì}} initial ({{zhi|c=æ¥æ¯}}) as an n-like sound.BOOK, æ¢ ç¸£æ¹è¨è©å ¸, Huang, Xuezhen, æ±èæè²åºç社, December 1995, 7534325064, {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"Min
(File:Min Languages.svg|thumb|Distribution of Min varieties in mainland China, Hainan and Taiwan)Min Chinese is a direct descendant of Old Chinese, and is spoken in Chaoshan and Zhanjiang of Guangdong,Hainan, Taiwan, most of Fujian and parts of Jiangxi and Zhejiang, by around 76 million people. Due to significant amounts of migration, many people in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong are also able of speaking Min varieties. Lects such as Teoswa, Hainanese, Hokkien (incl. Taiwanese) and Hokchiu are all Min varieties.Due to the fact that Min descended from Old Chinese rather than Middle Chinese, it has some features that would be out of place in other varieties. For instance, some words with the {{zhi|p=cheng}} initial ({{zhi|c=æ¾æ¯}}) are not affricates in Min. This, interestingly, has led to many languages, such as Occitan, Inuktitut, Latin, MÄori and Telugu, loaning the Sinitic word for 'tea' ({{zhi|c=è¶}}) with a plosive. Min varieties also have a very large number of words with literary pronunciations.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"Wu
(File:Varieties of of the Wu Chinese (English).png|thumb|Distribution of Wu varieties)Wu Chinese is spoken in most of Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, parts of southern Anhui and eastern Jiangxi by around 82 million people.BOOK, ç¶ä»£å³èªç 究, ä¸æµ·æè²åºç社, Qian, Nairong, 1992, Many large cities in the Yangtze Delta, such as Suzhou, Changzhou, Ningbo and Hangzhou, use a Wu variety. Wu varieties generally have a fricative initial in their negators, a three-way plosive distinction, as well as a checked coda preserved as a glottal stop, with the exception of Oujiang lects, where it has become vowel length, and Xuanzhou.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"|+ An example of a tripartite division of plosives! !! Shanghai !! Suzhou !! Changzhou !! Shaoxing !! Ningbo !! Taizhou !! Wenzhou !! Jinhua !! Lishui || QuzhouHui
Huizhou Chinese is spoken in western Hangzhou, southern Anhui and parts of Jingdezhen, by around 5 million people. It is identified as a top level group by the Language Atlas, though some linguists believe in other theories, such as it being a Gan-influenced Wu variety, due to an identifiable basis of Old Wu features.BOOK, Li, Rulong, æ¼¢èªæ¹è¨å¸, Beijing, é«çæè²åºç社, 2001, 17, JOURNAL, Zhengzhang, Shangfang, çåæ¹è¨çååï¼ç¨¿ï¼, æ¹è¨, 1986, 1, JOURNAL, Zhang, Guangyu, æ±åæ¹è¨éä¿ç¸½è«, æ¹è¨, 1999, 1, Hui varieties are phonologically diverse, and some features are shared with Wu, such as the simplification of diphthongs.BOOK, Meng, Qinghui, å¾½å·æ¹è¨, Beijing, å®å¾½äººæ°åºç社, 2005, Hui can be divided into Jishe, Xiuyi, Qiwu, Jingzhan and Yanzhou branches, with Tunxinese and Jixinese being representatives.Gan
Gan Chinese is spoken in northern and central Jiangxi, parts of Hebei and Anhui and eastern Hunan, by 22 million people, sometimes believed to be related to Hakka. Gan varieties tend to not palatalize terms with the {{zhi|p=jian}} initial ({{zhi|c=è¦æ¯}}) and have an f-like initial in closed {{zhi|p=xiao}} and {{zhi|p=xia}} initial ({{zhi|c=åå£æå£å ©æ¯}}) terms, among other features.BOOK, Sun, Yizhi, Chen, Changyi, Xu, Yangchun, æ±è¥¿è´æ¹è¨èªé³çç¹é», 2001, {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"Xiang
(File:Classification of Xiang 2005 Bao.png|thumb|Distribution of Xiang varieties in Hunan and Guangxi)Xiang Chinese is spoken in central and western Hunan and nearby parts of Guangxi and Guizhou by an estimated 37 million people. Due to migrations, Xiang can be split into New and Old Xiang groups, with Old Xiang having fewer Mandarin-influenced features.BOOK, Song, Diwu, Cao, Shuji, ä¸å移æ°å² 第äºå·ï¼åå¸«å ¶, Xiang varieties have universally lost their checked codas, but the majority of them still have a unique preserved checked tone contour. Most also have a three-way plosive distinction, like Wu varieties.One way of dividing Xiang varieties sees five distinct families, namely Changyi, Hengzhou, Louzhao, Chenxu, and Yongzhou.BOOK, Bao, Houxing, Chen, Hui, 2005, æ¹èªçååï¼ç¨¿ï¼, Changshanese and one of Shuangfengnese or Loudinese are usually taken as Xiang representatives.Internal classification
File:The origin and spread of the Sino-Tibetan language family.png|thumb|After applying the linguistic comparative method to the database of comparative linguistic data developed by Sagart|Jacques|Lai|Ryder|2019|pp=10319â10320}}The traditional, dialectological classification of Chinese languages is based on the evolution of the sound categories of Middle Chinese. Little comparative work has been done (the usual way of reconstructing the relationships between languages), and little is known about mutual intelligibility. Even within the dialectological classification, details are disputed, such as the establishment in the 1980s of three new top-level groups: Huizhou, Jin and Pinghua, despite the fact that Pinghua is itself a pair of languages and Huizhou may be half a dozen.{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|pp=41â53, 55â56}}{{sfnp|Yan|2006|pp=9â18, 61â69, 222}}Like Bai, the Min languages are commonly thought to have split off directly from Old Chinese.{{sfnp|Mei|1970 |p=?}} The evidence for this split is that all Sinitic languages apart from the Min group can be fit into the structure of the Qieyun, a 7th-century rime dictionary.{{sfnp|Pulleyblank|1984|p=3}} However, this view is not universally accepted.Points of contention
Like many other language families, Sinitic languages have had problems of classification. The following are a few examples.Southern China
Traditionally, the lect of urban Hangzhou and New Xiang of eastern Hunan are not considered Mandarin. However, linguists such as Richard VanNess Simmons and Zhou Zhenhe have observed that these two varieties possess more qualifying features of Mandarin languages.BOOK, Chinese Dialect Classification: A comparative approach to Harngjou, Old Jintarn, and Common Northern Wu, Richard VanNess Simmons, John Benjamins Publishing Co., 1999, BOOK, Zhou, Zhenhe, You, Rujie, FÄngyán yÇ zhÅngguó wénhuà , zh:æ¹è¨ä¸ä¸å½æå, Dialects and Chinese culture, Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1986, For instance, the vowels of the second division of the {{zhi|p=jia}} ({{zhi|c=å}}) initial is often raised and backed in Wu and Xiang, while they are not in Hangzhounese and New Xiang.{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"! rowspan=2| !! colspan=3|Traditionally Mandarin !! colspan=4|Traditionally Wu !! colspan=2|Traditionally Xiang !! rowspan=2|GlossNorthern China
The variety spoken in the Ganyu District of Lianyungang ({{zhi|c=è´æ¦è©±}}) is listed as a variety of Central Plains Mandarin in the Language Atlas of China, though its tonal distribution is more similar to Peninsular Mandarin varieties.BOOK, Liu, Chuanxian, èµ£æ¦æ¹è¨å¿, 2001, ä¸å书å±, Beijing,Relationships between groups
Jerry Norman classified the traditional seven dialect groups into three larger groups: Northern (Mandarin), Central (Wu, Gan, and Xiang) and Southern (Hakka, Yue, and Min). He argued that the Southern Group is derived from a standard used in the Yangtze valley during the Han dynasty (206 BC{{snd}}220 AD), which he called Old Southern Chinese, while the Central group was transitional between the Northern and Southern groups.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=182â183}} Some dialect boundaries, such as between Wu and Min, are particularly abrupt, while others, such as between Mandarin and Xiang or between Min and Hakka, are much less clearly defined.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=189â190}}Scholars account for the transitional nature of the central varieties in terms of wave models. Iwata argues that innovations have been transmitted from the north across the Huai River to the Lower Yangtze Mandarin area and from there southeast to the Wu area and westwards along the Yangtze River valley and thence to southwestern areas, leaving the hills of the southeast largely untouched.{{sfnp|Iwata|2010|pp=102â108}}A quantitative study
A 2007 study compared fifteen major urban dialects on the objective criteria of lexical similarity and regularity of sound correspondences, and subjective criteria of intelligibility and similarity. Most of these criteria show a top-level split with Northern, New Xiang, and Gan in one group and Min (samples at Fuzhou, Xiamen, Chaozhou), Hakka, and Yue in the other group. The exception was phonological regularity, where the one Gan dialect (Nanchang Gan) was in the Southern group and very close to Meixian Hakka, and the deepest phonological difference was between Wenzhounese (the southernmost Wu dialect) and all other dialects.{{sfnp|Tang|Van Heuven|2007|p=1025}}The study did not find clear splits within the Northern and Central areas:{{sfnp|Tang|Van Heuven|2007|p=1025}}- Changsha (New Xiang) was always within the Mandarin group. No Old Xiang dialect was in the sample.
- Taiyuan (Jin or Shanxi) and Hankou (Wuhan, Hubei) were subjectively perceived as relatively different from other Northern dialects but were very close in mutual intelligibility. Objectively, Taiyuan had substantial phonological divergence but little lexical divergence.
- Chengdu (Sichuan) was somewhat divergent lexically but very little on the other measures.
Internal comparison
The following section will be dedicated to compare non-Bai and non-CaiâLong Sinitic languages. Though all stem from Old Chinese, they have all developed differences with each other.Writing system
(File:Pa-khek-le Kau-hoe.jpg|thumb|right|alt=POJ inscription|An example of Hokkien written exclusively in the Latin alphabet.)Typographically, the vast majority of Sinitic languages use Sinographs. However, some varieties, such as Dungan and Hokkien, have alternative scripts, namely Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. Even between varieties which use Sinographs, characters are repurposed or invented to cover for the difference in vocabulary. Examples include {{zhi|c=é|l=pretty}} in Yue,BOOK, 廣å·æ¹è¨è©å ¸, æ±èæè²åºç社åºç, 1998, Bai, Wanru, 9787534334344, {{zhi|c=ð |l=I, me}} in Hakka, {{zhi|c=å³|l=this}} in Hokkien,BOOK, å»éæ¹è¨è©å ¸, æ±èæè²åºç社åºç, 1993, Li, Rong, 9787534319952, {{zhi|c=è¦ |l=to not want}} in Wu, {{zhi|c=è«|l=do not}} in Xiang, and {{zhi|c=å|l=ill-tempered}} in Mandarin.BOOK, Bao, é·æ²æ¹è¨è©å ¸, Houxing, 9787534319983, æ±èæè²åºç社åºç, December 1998, Note that both traditional and simplified characters can be used to write any lect.Phonology
Phonologically speaking, though all Sinitic languages possess tones, their contours and the total number of tones varies wildly, from Shanghainese, which can be analysed to have only two tones, to Bobainese, which has ten.BOOK, 廣西漢èªæ¹è¨ç 究, Xie, Jianyou, 2007, 廣西人æ°åºç社, Sinitic languages also vary wildly in their phonological inventories and phonotactics. Take for instance {{IPA|/mÉɤÅ/}} ({{zhi|c=éå |l=door (diminuitive)}}) seen in Pingdingnese, or {{IPA|/tÊɦɻʷÉi/}} ({{zhi|c=æ°´|l=water}}) of Xuanzhounese,BOOK, å®å¾½å®£åï¼éç¿ ï¼æ¹è¨, Shen, Ming, 2016, ä¸å社æç§å¸åºç社, which both show syllables which do not follow the (single) consonant-glide-vowel-consonant syllable structure of more well-known lects. Tone sandhi is also a feature which not all lects share. Cantonese, for instance, only has a very weak system,BOOK, é¦æ¸¯ç²µèªè©å ¸, Zheng, Ding'ou, æ±èæè²åºç社, 9787534329425, 1997, whereas Wu varieties not only have complex, intricate systems, which affect almost all syllables, but also uses it to mark for grammatical part of speech. Take for instance, this simplified analysis of Suzhounese tone sandhi:BOOK, Wang, èå·æ¹è¨èªé³ç 究, Ping, è¯ä¸ç工大å¸åºç社, August 1996, 7560911315, {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"|+Unchecked Tone Sandhi!chain length ââ 1st char tone cat!2 char!3 char!4 charGrammar
Disregarding phonology, grammar is the feature of Sinitic languages which differ the most. The majority of Sinitic languages do not possess tenses, though exceptions include Northern Wu lects such as Shanghainese and Suzhounese, though it is largely breaking down in Shanghainese due to Mandarin influence.BOOK, Qian, Nairong (é¢ä¹æ¦®), 2010, ãå¾ã滬èªä¾¿åãæè¦çèä¸æµ·è©±ææ ã (Tenses and Aspects? Old Shanghainese as Found in the Book Huyu Bian Shang), Shanghai, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, Sinitic languages generally also have no case marking, though lects such as Linxianese and Hengshannese do possess case particles, with the latter expressing it through tone change.JOURNAL, æ·®å師ç¯å¸é¢å¸å ±, 2021, 2, 23, è¨å¤æ¹è¨æ ¼æ¨è¨ãåï¼»XAâ´Â³ï¼½ãæ¢ç©¶, Zhang, Qiang, Guangzhou, JOURNAL, æ¹æ½å¤§å¸å¸å ±ï¼å²å¸ç¤¾æç§å¸çï¼, July 2019, 4, 43, è¡¡å±±æ¹è¨äººç¨±ä»£è©é æ ¼è®èª¿ç¾è±¡ç實質, Liu, Juan, Peng, Zerun, Sinitic languages generally have SVO word order and possess classifiers.Verb usage may be different between Sinitic languages. Notice the double verb marking seen in lects such as Beijingese, in these sentences meaning "today I go to Guangzhou":BOOK, å³èªçå¥æ³é¡åç¹é», 2001, Liu, Danqing, {{fs interlinear|indent=2|top= Beijingese:| {ä» å¤©} æ å° {廣 å·} å»Indirect object marking
Sinitic languages tend to vary greatly between how they mark indirect objects. The area which varies tends to be the placement of the indirect and direct object.Mandarinic, Xiang, Hui and Min languages often place the indirect object (IO) before the direct object (DO). Some lects have switched to IO-DO structure due to Mandarin influence, such as Nanchangese and Shanghainese, though Shanghainese also has the alternative word order.{{Col-begin}}{{Col-2}}{{fs interlinear|indent=2|top= Beijingese:|ä» çµ¦ äº æ ä¸ ç ç³ã|tÄ gÄi le wÇ yÄ« hé táng'|3SG give PERF 1SG one CL sweets|"He gave me a box of sweets."}}{{Col-2}}{{fs interlinear|indent=2|top= Taiyuanese:|給 æ ä¸ æ¬ æ¸ã|kei53 É£É53 iÉÊ2 pÉÅ53 su11|give 1SG one CL book|"Give me a book."}}{{Col-end}}{{Col-begin}}{{Col-2}}{{fs interlinear|indent=2|abbreviations=SPEC:specifier|top= Changshanese:|{媽 媽} èªï¼ æ æ å © å¡ é¢ å¯ã|{ma33 ma} ei pa41 Åo41 lian41 kÊ°uai41 tÉiÉÌ13 lo|ma SPEC give 1SG two CL money SPEC|"Mama, give me two dollars please."}}{{Col-2}}{{fs interlinear|indent=2|top= Nanchangese:|{ä½ äºº} æ¥ äº ä½¢ ä¸ é» éã|{ên len} êtÉia le êtÉie êsan tsaÊê êwo|2SG.POL lend PERF 3SG three CL pot|"You lent him three pots."}}{{Col-end}}On the other hand, Gan, Wu, Hakka, and Yue languages tend to place the DO in front of the IO.{{Col-begin}}{{Col-2}}{{fs interlinear|indent=2|top= Yichunnese:|æ å¾ æ¬ æ¸ ä½ ã|Åo34 tÉ42â»33 pun42 Éy34 ȵi34|1SG give CL book 2SG|"I give a book to you."}}{{Col-2}}{{fs interlinear|indent=2Classifiers
Like other East Asian languages such as Japanese and Korean, Sinitic languages have a system of classifers, however, use of classifiers vary greatly in features such as definiteness. In Cantonese, for instance, they can be used to mark possession, which is rare in Sinitic while common in Southeast Asia.{{fs interlinear|indent=2|æ æ¬ æ¸|ngo5 bun2 syu1|1SG CL book|'my book'}}{{zhi|c=å}} and {{zhi|c=é»}} are the most common generic classifiers cross-linguistically. As previously mentioned, Mandarinic languages tend to have fewer classifiers whereas the Southern non-Mandarinic varieties tend to have more.Demonstratives
Sinitic languages can vary greatly in their system of demonstratives. Standard Mandarin and other Northeastern varieties has a two-way system: {{zhi|c=é|p=zhè}} (proximal) and {{zhi|c=é£|p=nà }} (distal), but this is not the only system found in Sinitic languages.Wuhannese has a neutral demonstrative, which can be used regardless of the distance to the deitic center.BOOK, Zhu, Jiansong, æ¦æ¼¢æ¹è¨ç 究, 1992, BOOK, Zhu, Jiansong, æ¦æ¼¢æ¹è¨è©å ¸, May 1995, æ±èæè²åºç社, 7534323290, Similar systems are found in Northern Wu lects such as Suzhounese and Ningbonese.{{fs interlinear|indent=2Notes
{{notelist}}References
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