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29-492: Over 91% of the Chinese population speaks a Sinitic language. 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 2018–2019, both native and non-native, are listed below: Dialectologist Jerry Norman estimated that there are hundreds of mutually unintelligible Sinitic languages. They form

58-458: A Ph.D. from Berkeley with a dissertation entitled "The Kienyang Dialect of Fukien ". Norman was promoted to assistant professor after completing his Ph.D. in 1969. While at Princeton, Norman met and married Stella Chen, and together they had four children. In 1972, Norman moved with his family to Seattle, Washington to join the faculty of the Department of Asian Languages and Literature at

87-400: A dialect continuum in which differences generally become more pronounced as distances increase, though there are also some sharp boundaries. 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

116-707: A null initial (apart from open zhǐ rime series ( 止攝開口 ) finals), unlike the /ʐ/ of Northern and Beijing Mandarin. Based on, for example, the pronunciation of the palatalized jiàn initial ( 見母 ), Jiaoliao Mandarin can be divided into Qingzhou, Denglian and Gaihuan areas. 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 . Central Plains Mandarin lects merge

145-485: 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. 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

174-455: A national prestige during the Ming and Qing periods, though not all linguists support this viewpoint. 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. Yue Chinese

203-481: Is a dialect of Northeastern Mandarin used by people in and around Shenyang , the capital of Liaoning province and the largest city in Northeast China . It is very close to Standard Chinese but has some notably distinctive words. Some people consider it a strong accent rather than a distinct dialect. Because of its similarity to the standard language, pinyin can be used to represent its pronunciation. Its usage

232-575: Is dwindling as schools in Shenyang teach only the standard language. The most distinctive aspect of the Shenyang dialect is the much lower pitch of the first tone than in Standard Mandarin. It would be positioned at 2, rather than 5, on the chart shown (right). As a result, it can sound rather like the third tone. Like the Beijing dialect , the Shenyang dialect is characterized by erhua (儿化). Some of

261-407: Is sometimes separated as a remnant of Old Shu. 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

290-568: 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

319-510: 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 rì initial ( 日母 ) terms are pronounced with

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348-481: Is uncertain, and some believe its two groups, Northern and Southern, should be listed under Yue, though some reject this standpoint. Jerry Norman (sinologist) Jerry Lee Norman (July 16, 1936 – July 7, 2012) was an American sinologist and linguist known for his studies of varieties of Chinese , particularly Min varieties, and also of the Manchu language . Norman had a large impact on Chinese linguistics, and

377-730: The Qing dynasty in the Southwest, tended to involve Mandarin speakers. 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: as well as other lects, which do not neatly fall into these categories, such as Mandarin Junhua varieties. Varieties of Mandarin can be defined by their universally lost -m final, low number of tones, and smaller inventory of classifiers , among other features. Mandarin lects also often have rhotic erhua rimes, though

406-751: The University of Washington , where he remained until his retirement in 1998. Norman's scholarship focused on the Min dialects of Chinese, and was largely responsible for its recognition as an important tool for reconstructing the phonology of Old Chinese . He was a passionate student of Manchu history and literature, and was one of the last North American scholars to be fluent and literate in Manchu. He died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Seattle on July 7, 2012. Shenyang dialect Shenyang Mandarin ( Chinese : 沈阳话 )

435-514: The amount of its use may vary between lects. Loss of checked tone is an often cited criterion for Mandarin languages, though lects such as Yangzhounese and Taiyuannese show otherwise. 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

464-404: 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' ( 通攝 ) checked-tone words, among other features. Jilu Mandarin can be classified into Baotang, Shiji, Canghui and Zhangli. Zhangli is of note due to its preservation of a separate checked tone. Jiaoliao Mandarin

493-628: The extinct Taz language of Russia is also a Northeastern Mandarin language. Beijing is sometimes included in Northeastern Mandarin due to its distribution of the historical dark checked tone, though is listed as its own group by others, often due to its more regular light checked tones. Jilu Mandarin is spoken in southern Hebei and western Shandong , and is often represented with Jinannese . Notable cities that use Jilu Mandarin lects include Cangzhou , Shijiazhuang , Jinan and Baoding . Characteristically Jilu Mandarin features include merging

522-399: The family is classified into at least seven main families. These families are classified based on five main evolutionary criteria: The varieties within one family may not be mutually intelligible with each other. For instance, Wenzhounese and Ningbonese are not highly mutually intelligible. The Language Atlas of China identifies ten groups: with Jin, Hui, Pinghua, and Tuhua not part of

551-595: The following briefs. This is a language family first proposed by linguist Zhengzhang Shangfang , and was expanded to include Longjia and Luren. It likely split off from the rest of Sinitic during the Old Chinese period. The languages included are all considered minority languages in China and are spoken in the Southwest . The languages are: All other Sinitic languages henceforth would be considered Chinese. The Chinese branch of

580-478: The former Soviet Union . 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. Jin varieties also often has disyllabic words derived from syllable splitting (分音詞), through

609-533: 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. Northeastern Mandarin, especially in Heilongjiang, contains many loanwords from Russian. Northeastern Mandarin lects can be divided into three main groups, namely Hafu (including Harbinnese and Changchunnese ), Jishen (including Jilinnese and Shenyangnese ), and Heisong. Notably,

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638-408: The historical checked tones with a lesser muddy ( 次濁 ) and clear ( 清 ) initial together with the rising tone, and those with a fully muddy ( 全濁 ) initial are merged with the light level tone. Lanyin Mandarin, spoken in northern Ningxia, parts of Gansu, and northern Xinjiang, is sometimes grouped with Central Plains Mandarin due to its merged lesser light and dark checked tones, though it is realised as

667-740: The infixation of /(u)əʔ l/ . 笨 pəŋ꜄   → 薄 pəʔ꜇ 愣 ləŋ꜄ 笨 {} 薄 愣 pəŋ꜄ → pəʔ꜇ ləŋ꜄ 'stupid' 滾 ꜂kʊŋ   → 骨 kuəʔ꜆ 攏 ꜂lʊŋ 滾 {} 骨 攏 ꜂kʊŋ → kuəʔ꜆ ꜂lʊŋ 'to roll' As per the Language Atlas by Li, Jin is divided into Dabao, Zhanghu, Wutai, Lüliang, Bingzhou, Shangdang, Hanxin, and Zhiyan branches. 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

696-594: 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. Except for 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 into Chuanqian, Xishu, Chuanxi, Yunnan, Huguang and Guiliu branches. Minchi

725-645: The prominent Chinese linguist Y. R. Chao as well as Manchu and Mongolian under the American scholar James Bosson (1933–2016). He earned an M.A. in 1965, and after working with Chinese linguist Leo Chen on a glossary of the Fuzhou dialect , in 1966 he joined the Chinese Linguistics Project at Princeton University as a staff linguist. While at Princeton, Norman traveled to Taiwan to perform in field research on Taiwanese Hokkien , and in 1969 he received

754-799: The seven traditional groups. 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 today in Standard Chinese . 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

783-530: The words in the Shenyang dialect come from other languages like the Manchu language . One example is 旮旯儿 gālár 'corner'. Examples of words in various Northeastern dialects (not necessarily specific to Shenyang) include: Shenyang dialect has 19 initial consonants, as opposed to the 21 in Standard Mandarin . Notably, the retroflex consonants [ʈ͡ʂ] , [ʈ͡ʂʰ] and [ʂ] in Standard Mandarin are pronounced as [t͡s] , [t͡sʰ] and [s] , respectively, while [ɻ]

812-631: Was briefly a Catholic novitiate , then joined the U.S. Army and began studying at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, California , where he was first introduced to the Chinese language . After completing his military service, Norman enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley , graduating with a B.A. in 1961. He then continued at Berkeley as a graduate student, studying Chinese under

841-616: Was largely responsible for establishing the importance of Min varieties in the reconstruction of Old Chinese . Jerry Norman was born on July 16, 1936, in Watsonville, California . His family were migrant farmers who had fled the Dust Bowl conditions of Oklahoma in the mid-1930s. Norman entered the University of Chicago in the autumn of 1954 and majored in Russian , but was forced to withdraw after two years because of financial problems. He

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