Mandarin Chinese information

Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin Chinese
Simplified Chinese	官话
Traditional Chinese	官話
Literal meaning	Officials' speech
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Guānhuà
Bopomofo	ㄍㄨㄢㄏㄨㄚˋ
Gwoyeu Romatzyh	Guanhuah
Wade–Giles	Kuan1-hua4
Tongyong Pinyin	Guan-huà
IPA	[kwán.xwâ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Gūnwá
Northern Chinese
Simplified Chinese	北方话
Traditional Chinese	北方話
Literal meaning	Northern speech
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Běifānghuà
Bopomofo	ㄅㄟˇㄈㄤㄏㄨㄚˋ
Gwoyeu Romatzyh	Beeifanghuah
Wade–Giles	Pei3-fang1-hua4
Tongyong Pinyin	Běi-fang-huà
IPA	[pèɪ.fáŋ.xwâ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization	Bākfōngwá

Mandarin
Mandarin
官话; 官話; Guānhuà
	Guānhuà ('Mandarin') ; written in Chinese characters; (simplified left, traditional right)
Native to	China
Region	Northern and southwestern China
Native speakers	L1: 940 million (2021); L2: 200 million (no date)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Mandarin; ; ;
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Eastern Han Chinese Middle Chinese Old Mandarin Middle Mandarin ; ; ; ; ;
Standard forms	Standard Mandarin; (Putonghua, Guoyu);
Dialects	Northeastern; Beijing; Ji–Lu; Jiao–Liao; Lower Yangtze; Central Plains; Lan–Yin; Southwestern;
Writing system	Chinese characters (Simplified, Traditional); Mainland Chinese Braille; Taiwanese Braille; Two-Cell Chinese Braille; Transcriptions: Pinyin (Latin); Zhuyin; Xiao'erjing (Arabic); Dungan (Cyrillic);
Signed forms	Chinese Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cmn
Glottolog	mand1415
Linguasphere	79-AAA-b
	Mandarin area in China as of 1987, including Sichuanese, Lower Yangtze and (in light green) Jin, which are arguably separate languages
	Countries and regions where Mandarin is spoken as L1 or L2 Majority native language Statutory or de facto national working language More than 1,000,000 speakers More than 500,000 speakers More than 100,000 speakers
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

A speaker from Tanghe (Central Plains Mandarin)

Mandarin (/ˈmændərɪn/ ^ⓘ MAN-dər-in; simplified Chinese: 官话; traditional Chinese: 官話; pinyin: Guānhuà; lit. 'officials' speech') is a group of Chinese language dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of China. Because Mandarin originated in North China and most Mandarin dialects are found in the north, the group is sometimes referred to as Northern Chinese (simplified Chinese: 北方话; traditional Chinese: 北方話; pinyin: Běifānghuà; lit. 'northern speech'). Many varieties of Mandarin, such as those of the Southwest (including Sichuanese) and the Lower Yangtze, are not mutually intelligible with the standard language (or are only partially intelligible). Nevertheless, Mandarin as a group is often placed first in lists of languages by number of native speakers (with nearly one billion).

Mandarin is by far the largest of the Chinese dialect groups; it is spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretches from Yunnan in the southwest to Xinjiang in the northwest and Heilongjiang in the northeast. This is generally attributed to the greater ease of travel and communication in the North China Plain compared to the more mountainous south, combined with the relatively recent spread of Mandarin to frontier areas.

Most Mandarin varieties have four tones. The final stops of Middle Chinese have disappeared in most of these varieties, but some have merged them as a final glottal stop. Many Mandarin varieties, including the Beijing dialect, retain retroflex initial consonants, which have been lost in southern varieties of Chinese.

The Chinese capital has been within the Mandarin-speaking area for most of the last millennium, making these dialects very influential. Some form of Mandarin has served as a lingua franca for government officials and the courts since the 14th century.^[3] In the early 20th century, a standard form based on the Beijing dialect, with elements from other Mandarin dialects, was adopted as the national language. Standard Chinese is the official language of China^[4] and Taiwan,^[5] as well as one of the four official languages of Singapore. It is also used as one of the official languages of the United Nations.^[6] Recent increased migration from Mandarin-speaking regions of China and Taiwan has now resulted in the language being one of the more frequently used varieties of Chinese among Chinese diaspora communities. It is also the most commonly taught Chinese variety.

^ ^a ^b Mandarin at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^ 台灣手語簡介 (Taiwan shouyu jianjie) (2009)
^ Norman (1988), p. 136.
^ "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (Order of the President No.37)". Chinese Government. 31 October 2000. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2017. For purposes of this Law, the standard spoken and written Chinese language means Putonghua (a common speech with pronunciation based on the Beijing dialect) and the standardized Chinese characters.
^ "ROC Vital Information". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan). 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 2 May 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
^ 《人民日报》评论员文章：说普通话用规范字. www.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2018-02-20. Retrieved 2017-07-26.

[e27-1] Mandarin at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)

[2] 台灣手語簡介 (Taiwan shouyu jianjie) (2009)

[FOOTNOTENorman1988136-3] Norman (1988), p. 136.

[4] "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language (Order of the President No.37)". Chinese Government. 31 October 2000. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2017. For purposes of this Law, the standard spoken and written Chinese language means Putonghua (a common speech with pronunciation based on the Beijing dialect) and the standardized Chinese characters.

[5] "ROC Vital Information". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan). 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 2 May 2017. Retrieved 28 March 2017.

[6] 《人民日报》评论员文章：说普通话用规范字. www.gov.cn (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 2018-02-20. Retrieved 2017-07-26.

Mandarin Chinese information

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Lanyin Mandarin

Mandarin
官话; 官話 Guānhuà
Guānhuà ('Mandarin') written in Chinese characters (simplified left, traditional right)
Native to	China
Region	Northern and southwestern China
Native speakers	L1: 940 million (2021)^[1] L2: 200 million (no date)^[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Mandarin
Early forms	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Old Chinese Eastern Han Chinese Middle Chinese Old Mandarin Middle Mandarin
Standard forms	Standard Mandarin (Putonghua, Guoyu)
Dialects	Northeastern Beijing Ji–Lu Jiao–Liao Lower Yangtze Central Plains Lan–Yin Southwestern
Writing system	Chinese characters (Simplified, Traditional) Mainland Chinese Braille Taiwanese Braille Two-Cell Chinese Braille Transcriptions: Pinyin (Latin) Zhuyin Xiao'erjing (Arabic) Dungan (Cyrillic)
Signed forms	Chinese Sign Language^[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`cmn`
Glottolog	`mand1415`
Linguasphere	`79-AAA-b`
Mandarin area in China as of 1987, including Sichuanese, Lower Yangtze and (in light green) Jin, which are arguably separate languages
Countries and regions where Mandarin is spoken as L1 or L2 Majority native language Statutory or de facto national working language More than 1,000,000 speakers More than 500,000 speakers More than 100,000 speakers
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.