Gan (linguistics)

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Gan
赣语
Spoken in: China 
Region: Jiangxi Province
Total speakers: 20 million 
Ranking: 45
Language family: Sino-Tibetan
 Chinese
  Gan
Language codes
ISO 639-1: zh
ISO 639-2: chi (B)  zho (T)
ISO/FDIS 639-3: gan

Gan (赣语) is one of the major divisions of spoken Chinese, concentrated in and typical of Jiangxi Province.

Contents

[edit] Classification

Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is plenty of dispute as to whether Gan is a language or a dialect. Please see Identification of the varieties of Chinese for the issues surrounding this dispute.

[edit] Geographical distribution

Gan is spoken over most of the northern two-thirds of Jiangxi Province, as well as smaller areas in Anhui, Fujian, Hunan and Hubei.

[edit] Dialects

The Nanchang variety is the canonical representative of the group. The mountainous geography of Jiangxi has resulted in a high degree of fragmentation, with many mutually unintelligible varieties. Speakers typically identify their speech as being that of a particular county, e.g., Wannianese, rather than Gan in general.

[edit] Writing system

Gan has no form of writing beyond Vernacular Chinese, which is used by all Chinese speakers.[1]

[edit] Note

[edit] External links


[edit] Chinese: spoken varieties  
Categories:

Gan | Hakka | Hui | Jin | Mandarin | Min | Ping | Xiang | Wu | Cantonese
Danzhouhua | Shaozhou Tuhua

Subcategories of Min: Min Bei | Min Dong | Min Nan | Min Zhong | Puxian | Qiongwen | Shaojiang
Subcategories of Mandarin: Northeastern | Beijing | Ji-Lu | Jiao-Liao | Zhongyuan | Lan-Yin | Southwestern | Jianghuai | Dungan
Note: The above is only one classification scheme among many.
The categories in italics are not universally acknowledged to be independent categories.
Comprehensive list of Chinese dialects
Official spoken varieties: Standard Mandarin | Standard Cantonese
Historical phonology: Old Chinese | Middle Chinese | Proto-Min | Proto-Mandarin | Haner
Chinese: written varieties
Official written varieties: Classical Chinese | Vernacular Chinese
Other varieties: Written Vernacular Cantonese
In other languages