Proto-Mandarin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Proto-Mandarin is a term that can be used to designate any earlier form of the most widely-spoken Chinese dialect, known in English as Mandarin; technically the "late Middle Chinese" of the Song Dynasty. "Early Mandarin" is the common name for the sound system described by the rhyme dictionary Zhōngyuán Yīnyùn (中原音韻, lit. Sounds and Rhymes of the Central Plains) of the later Yuan dynasty, used for rhyming of Peking Opera of that time.

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Chinese: spoken varieties

Traditional categories:

Mandarin | Wu | Cantonese | Min | Hakka | Xiang | Gan

Other:

Jin | Hui | Ping

Unclassified:

Danzhouhua | Shaozhou Tuhua

Note: The above is only one classification scheme among many.
The categories in italics are not universally acknowledged to be independent categories.

Subcategories of Mandarin:

Subcategories of Min:

Min Bei | Min Nan

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: