Languages of China

For information on various spoken Han Chinese languages, see Varieties of Chinese.
Languages of China

Map of Linguistic Groups showing areas in mainland China and Taiwan
Official language(s) Standard Chinese (nationwide), Cantonese (Hong Kong and Macau), English (Hong Kong), Portuguese (Macau), Uyghur (Xinjiang), Tibetan (Tibet), Mongolian (Inner Mongolia)
Indigenous language(s) Achang, Ai-Cham, Akha, Amis, Atayal, Ayi, Äynu, Babuza, Bai, Baima, Basay, Blang, Bonan, Bunun, Buyang, Buyei, Daur, De'ang, Derung, Dong, Dongxiang, E, Chinese Pidgin English, Ersu, Evenki, Fuyü Gïrgïs, Gelao, Groma, Hani, Hlai, Ili Turki, Iu Mien, Jingpho, Jino, Jurchen, Kanakanabu, Kangjia, Kavalan, Kim Mun, Khitan, Lahu, Lisu, Lop, Macanese, Manchu, Miao, Maonan, Mongolian, Monguor, Monpa, Mulam, Nanai, Naxi, Paiwan, Pazeh, Puyuma, Ong-Be, Oroqen, Qabiao, Qoqmončaq, Northern Qiang, Southern Qiang, Prinmi, Rukai, Saaroa, Saisiyat, Salar, Seediq, She, Siraya, Sui, Tai Dam, Tai Lü, Tai Nüa, Tao, Tangut, Thao, Amdo Tibetan, Central Tibetan, Standard Tibetan, Khams Tibetan, Tsat, Tsou, Tujia, Uyghur, Wutun, Xibe, Yi, Eastern Yugur, Western Yugur, Zhaba, Zhuang
Minority language(s) Kazakh, Kinh (Vietnamese), Korean, Kyrgyz, Russian, Tajik, Tatar, Uzbek
Main foreign language(s)

English,[1][2]

Portuguese (in Macau)
Sign language(s) Chinese Sign Language
Common keyboard layout(s)
Chinese input methods

China's many different ethnic groups speak many different languages, collectively called Zhōngguó Yǔwén (中国语文), literally, "speech and writing of China", which span eight primary language families. Most of them are dissimilar morphologically and phonetically. Even within each family, most are mutually unintelligible. Zhongguo Yuwen includes the many different Han Chinese language varieties (commonly called Chinese) as well as minority languages such as Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang. China has 292 living languages and 1 extinct language (Jurchen) according to Ethnologue.[3]

Putonghua or Standard Mandarin is the official national spoken language. Hong Kong, Macau and several other autonomous regions have additional official languages. For example, Tibetan has official status within the Tibet Autonomous Region, Mongolian has official status within Inner Mongolia and Uyghur has official status within Xinjiang.

There are large economic, social, and practical incentives to be functional in Putonghua, a standardised form of the Mandarin group of dialects which is based in Beijing and spoken with varying degrees of dialectical influences across the northern and southwestern China. Putonghua serves as a lingua franca within the Mandarin-speaking region, and to a lesser extent across the various other language groups in mainland China.

Contents

Spoken languages

The spoken languages of nationalities that are a part of the People's Republic of China belong to at least seven families:

Below are lists of ethnic groups in China by linguistic classification. Ethnicities not on the official PRC list of 56 ethnic groups are italicized. Respective Pinyin transliterations and simplified Chinese characters are also given.

Sino-Tibetan

Altaic

Tai–Kadai (Kradai)

(Possibly the ancient Bǎiyuè 百越)

Others

Hmong–Mien
(Possibly the ancient Nánmán 南蛮)

Austro-Asiatic
(Possibly the ancient Bǎipú 百濮)

Austronesian

Indo-European

Semitic

Mixed

Written languages

Main article: Written Chinese

The following languages traditionally had written forms that do not involve Chinese characters (hanzi):

Some formerly have used Chinese characters

Chinese palaces, temples, and coins have traditionally been inscribed in five scripts:

During the Mongol Yuan dynasty, the official writing system was:

Chinese banknotes contain several scripts in addition to Chinese script. These are:

Ten nationalities who never had a written system have, under the PRC's encouragement, developed phonetic alphabets. According to a government white paper published in early 2005, "by the end of 2003, 22 ethnic minorities in China used 28 written languages."

Language policy

Chinese language policy in mainland China is heavily influenced by Soviet nationalities policy and officially encourages the development of standard spoken and written languages for each of the nationalities of China. However, in this schema, Han Chinese are considered a single nationality, and official policy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) treats the different varieties of the Chinese spoken language differently from the different national languages despite the fact that they are more different from each other than, for example, the Romance languages of Europe. While official policies in mainland China encourage the development and use of different orthographies for the national languages and their use in educational and academic settings, realistically speaking it would seem that, as elsewhere in the world, the outlook for minority languages perceived as inferior is grim.[8] The Tibetan Government-in-Exile argue that social pressures and political efforts result in a policy of sinicization and feels that Beijing should promote the Tibetan language more.

Study of foreign languages

It is also considered increasingly prestigious and useful to have some ability in English, which is a required subject for persons attending university. During the 1950s and 1960s, Russian had some social status among elites in mainland China as the international language of socialism. Japanese is the second most-studied foreign language in China. However, languages other than English are now considered as "minor languages" (小语种 xiao yu zhong) and are only really studied at university level.

English is taught in the public schools starting in the third year of primary school. [1][2]

The Economist, issue April 12, 2006, reported that up to one fifth of the population is learning English. Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister, estimated that the total English-speaking population in China will outnumber the native speakers in the rest of the world in two decades.[9]

The Arabic language is studied by Hui students.[5]

Arabic language education was promoted by the Kuomintang in Islamic schools when it ruled mainland China.[10]

Portuguese is taught in Macau as one of the official languages there and as a center of learning of the language in the region.

Further reading

See also

China portal
Language portal

References

  1. ^ a b http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/english-craze-hits-chinese-language-standards
  2. ^ a b http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/asians-offer-region-lesson-%E2%80%93-english
  3. ^ Languages of China – from Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
  4. ^ James Hastings, John Alexander Selbie, Louis Herbert Gray (1916). Encyclopædia of religion and ethics, Volume 8. EDINBURGH: T. & T. Clark. p. 892. http://books.google.com/books?id=eEwTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA892&dq=name+dungan+chinese+muslims+term+themselves+never+think+han#v=onepage&q=name%20dungan%20chinese%20muslims%20term%20themselves%20never%20think%20han&f=false. Retrieved 2010-11-28. (Original from Harvard University)
  5. ^ a b Michael Dillon (1999), China's Muslim Hui community: migration, settlement and sects, Richmond: Curzon Press, p. 155, ISBN 0700710264, http://books.google.com/?id=BwuSpFiOFfYC&pg=PA154&dq=hunan+uyghur#v=onepage&q=muslims%20in%20tianmu%20village%20in%20tianjin%20have%20used&f=false, retrieved 2010-06-28 
  6. ^ Journal of Southeast Asian studies, Volume 16, McGraw-Hill Far Eastern Publishers, 1985, p. 117, http://books.google.com/?id=3MJBAAAAYAAJ&q=Although+he+and+his+court+adopted+traditional+Chinese+dress,+he+decreed+that+his+subjects+should+use+the+Arabic+language+and+honour+Muslim&dq=Although+he+and+his+court+adopted+traditional+Chinese+dress,+he+decreed+that+his+subjects+should+use+the+Arabic+language+and+honour+Muslim, retrieved 2010-06-28 
  7. ^ Albert Fytche (1878), Burma past and present, C. K. Paul & co., p. 301, http://books.google.com/books?id=K28oAAAAYAAJ&q=arabic#v=snippet&q=many%20of%20them%20are%20able%20to%20converse%20arabic&f=false, retrieved 2010-06-28 
  8. ^ The prospects for the long-term survival of Non-Han minority languages in the south of China
  9. ^ "English beginning to be spoken here". The Economist. 2006-04-12. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6803197. 
  10. ^ Stéphane A. Dudoignon, Hisao Komatsu, Yasushi Kosugi (2006). Intellectuals in the modern Islamic world: transmission, transformation, communication. Taylor & Francis. p. 251. ISBN 00415368359. http://books.google.com/books?id=MJzB6wrz6Q4C&pg=PA251&dq=ma+fuxiang+military+academy#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 2010-06-28. 

External links