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The complex relationship between spoken and written Chinese is an example of diglossia: as spoken, Chinese varieties have evolved at different rates, while the written language used throughout China changed comparatively little, crystallizing into a prestige form known as Classical or Literary Chinese.
- 1.35 billion (2022)
May 13, 2024 · Chinese languages, principal language group of eastern Asia, belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese exists in a number of varieties that are popularly called dialects but that are usually classified as separate languages by scholars. More people speak a variety of Chinese as a.
Chinese is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China. Approximately 1.35 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language.
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Jan 27, 2024 · The Chinese language family consists of several main dialects, including Mandarin, Cantonese and Hakka, and it's among the most widely spoken globally. Click here to learn all about why Chinese isn't actually only one language, the history of its written and spoken forms and main features, including grammar and tones.
Old Chinese. Old Chinese, sometimes known as "Archaic Chinese", is genetically related to all current Chinese languages. The first known use of the Chinese writing system is divinatory inscriptions into tortoise shells and oracle bones during the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 BCE). [8] During the first half of the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BCE ...
5 days ago · Mandarin Chinese in the form spoken in and around Beijing forms the basis for Modern Standard Chinese —Guoyu, “National Language,” usually called putonghua “common language” by the Chinese. Modern Standard Chinese is also spoken officially on Taiwan. Mandarin uses four tones—level, rising, falling, and high-rising—to distinguish ...
Mandarin (普通话 / 汉语 / 国语 / 华语) Mandarin is a variety of Chinese spoken by about 1.12 billion people, mainly in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, the USA and Malaysia, and in many other countries. Mandarin is the main language of government, the media and education in China and Taiwan, and one of the four official languages in ...
