Search results
Middle Chinese. Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese recorded in the Qieyun, a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expanded editions. The Swedish linguist Bernhard Karlgren believed that the dictionary recorded a speech standard ...
Chinese varieties have the greatest differences in their phonology, and to a lesser extent in vocabulary and syntax. Southern varieties tend to have fewer initial consonants than northern and central varieties, but more often preserve the Middle Chinese final consonants.
- Sino-TibetanChinese
People also ask
What is Chinese language called?
What is the difference between classical Chinese and modern Chinese?
Do all Chinese languages share a common language?
What is the difference between northern and southern Chinese?
Read More. In Sino-Tibetan languages: Chinese, or Sinitic, languages. … (618–907 ce) is known as Ancient, or Middle, Chinese. Languages of later periods include Old, Middle, and Modern Mandarin (the name Mandarin is a translation of guanhua, “civil servant language”).
Apr 12, 2024 · Some scholars divide the history of the Chinese languages into Proto-Sinitic (Proto-Chinese; until 500 bc), Archaic (Old) Chinese (8th to 3rd century bc), Ancient (Middle) Chinese (through ad 907), and Modern Chinese (from c. the 10th century to modern times). The Proto-Sinitic period is the period of the most ancient inscriptions and poetry ...
- Mandarin Chinese. Where it’s spoken: China, Taiwan. Number of speakers: ∼1.1 billion. Mandarin, also known as Putonghua, is the official language of China.
- Cantonese Chinese. Where it’s spoken: China’s Guangdong province, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau. Number of speakers: ∼73 million. Though not quite second in terms of speakers, Cantonese is the second most widely spread dialect spoken in China.
- Wu Chinese (Shanghainese) Where it’s spoken: China’s Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, Shanghai. Number of speakers: ∼80 million. Used primarily in Shanghai, the Wu Chinese dialect is mostly known as Shanghainese.
- Hakka Chinese. Where it’s spoken: China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau. Number of speakers: ∼80 million. The Hakka Chinese dialect is spoken throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Southern China.
As pronunciation in modern varieties is different from Old Chinese as well as other historical forms such as Middle Chinese, characters that once rhymed may not any longer, or vice versa. Poetry and other rhyme-based writing thus becomes less coherent than the original reading must have been.
Read More. In Sino-Tibetan languages: Chinese, or Sinitic, languages. …language of China is called Archaic, or Old, Chinese (8th–3rd centuries bce ), and that of the next period up to and including the Tang dynasty (618–907 ce) is known as Ancient, or Middle, Chinese.
