Editing Mandarin Chinese (section)

==History==
{{Further|History of the Chinese language}}
The hundreds of modern local [[varieties of Chinese]] developed from regional variants of [[Old Chinese]] and [[Middle Chinese]]. Traditionally, seven major groups of dialects have been recognized. Aside from Mandarin, the other six are [[Wu Chinese|Wu]], [[Gan Chinese|Gan]], and [[Xiang Chinese|Xiang]] in central China and [[Min Chinese|Min]], [[Hakka Chinese|Hakka]], and [[Yue Chinese|Yue]] on the southeast coast.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=181}} The ''[[Language Atlas of China]]'' (1987) distinguishes three further groups: [[Jin Chinese|Jin]] (split from Mandarin), [[Huizhou Chinese|Huizhou]] in the [[Huizhou region]] of [[Anhui]] and [[Zhejiang]], and [[Pinghua]] in [[Guangxi]] and [[Yunnan]].{{sfnp|Wurm|Li|Baumann|Lee|1987}}{{sfnp|Kurpaska|2010|pp=55–56}}

===Old Mandarin===
{{main|Old Mandarin}}
[[File:蒙古字韻24b (cleaned).png|thumb|right|A page of the ''[[Menggu Ziyun]]'', covering the syllables ''tsim'' to ''lim'']]

After the fall of the [[Song dynasty#Northern Song, 960–1127|Northern Song]] (959–1126) and during the reign of the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin]] (1115–1234) and [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] (Mongol) dynasties in northern China, a common form of speech developed based on the dialects of the North China Plain around the capital, a language referred to as Old Mandarin. New genres of vernacular literature were based on this language, including verse, drama and story forms, such as the ''[[Qu (poetry)|qu]]'' and ''[[sanqu]]'' poetry.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=48–49}}

The rhyming conventions of the new verse were codified in a [[rime dictionary]] called the ''[[Zhongyuan Yinyun]]'' (1324). A radical departure from the [[rime table]] tradition that had evolved over the previous centuries, this dictionary contains a wealth of information on the phonology of Old Mandarin. Further sources are the [['Phags-pa script]] based on the Tibetan alphabet, which was used to write several of the languages of the Mongol empire, including Chinese and the ''[[Menggu Ziyun]]'', a rime dictionary based on 'Phags-pa. The rime books differ in some details, but overall show many of the features characteristic of modern Mandarin dialects, such as the reduction and disappearance of final plosives and the reorganization of the Middle Chinese tones.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=49–51}}

In Middle Chinese, initial [[stop consonant|stops]] and [[affricate consonant|affricates]] showed a three-way contrast between [[tenuis consonant|tenuis]], voiceless aspirated and voiced consonants. There were [[four tones (Middle Chinese)|four tones]], with the fourth or "entering tone", a [[checked tone]] comprising syllables ending in plosives (''-p'', ''-t'' or ''-k''). Syllables with voiced initials tended to be pronounced with a lower pitch and by the late [[Tang dynasty]], each of the tones had split into two registers conditioned by the initials. When voicing was lost in all languages except the Wu subfamily, this distinction became phonemic and the system of initials and tones was rearranged differently in each of the major groups.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=34–36, 52–54}}

The ''Zhongyuan Yinyun'' shows the typical Mandarin four-tone system resulting from a split of the "even" tone and loss of the entering tone, with its syllables distributed across the other tones (though their different origin is marked in the dictionary). Similarly, voiced plosives and affricates have become voiceless aspirates in the "even" tone and voiceless non-aspirates in others, another distinctive Mandarin development. However, the language still retained a final ''-m'', which has merged with ''-n'' in modern dialects and initial voiced fricatives. It also retained the distinction between velars and alveolar sibilants in palatal environments, which later merged in most Mandarin dialects to yield a palatal series (rendered ''j-'', ''q-'' and ''x-'' in [[pinyin]]).{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=49–50}}

The flourishing vernacular literature of the period also shows distinctively Mandarin vocabulary and syntax, though some, such as the third-person pronoun {{zhp|p=tā|c=他}}, can be traced back to the Tang dynasty.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=111–132}}

===Vernacular literature===
Until the early 20th century, formal writing and even much poetry and fiction was done in [[Literary Chinese]], which was modeled on the [[Chinese classics|classics]] of the [[Warring States period]] and the [[Han dynasty]]. Over time, the various spoken varieties diverged greatly from Literary Chinese, which was learned and composed as a special language. Preserved from the sound changes that affected the various spoken varieties, its economy of expression was greatly valued. For example, {{zhc|c=翼|p=yì|l=wing}} is unambiguous in written Chinese, but has over 75 [[homophone]]s in [[Standard Chinese]].

The literary language was less appropriate for documents that were meant to be performed or recited, such as plays or stories. From at least the Yuan dynasty plays that recounted the subversive tales of China's Robin Hoods to the Ming dynasty novels such as ''[[Water Margin]]'', on down to the Qing dynasty novel ''[[Dream of the Red Chamber]]'' and beyond, there developed a literature in [[written vernacular Chinese]] ({{zhi|t=白話|s=白话|p=báihuà}}). In many cases, this written language reflected Mandarin varieties and since pronunciation differences were not conveyed in this written form, this tradition had a unifying force across all the Mandarin-speaking regions and beyond.{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|p=10}}

[[Hu Shih]], a pivotal figure of the first half of the twentieth century, wrote an influential and perceptive study of this literary tradition, entitled {{zht|p=Báihuà Wénxuéshǐ|tr=A History of Vernacular Literature}}.

===Late imperial koiné===
{{Main|Mandarin (late imperial lingua franca)}}
[[File:Fourmont-Zhongguo-Guanhua.png|thumb|upright|right|{{zhp|p=Zhongguo Guanhua|c=中國官話}}, or {{lang|la|Medii Regni Communis Loquela}} ("Middle Kingdom's Common Speech"), used on the frontispiece of an early Chinese grammar published by [[Étienne Fourmont]] (with [[Arcadio Huang]]) in 1742<ref>Fourmont, Etienne (1742). ''Linguae Sinarum Mandarinicae hieroglyphicae grammatica duplex, latinè, & cum characteribus Sinensium''.</ref>]]
{{quote frame|The Chinese have different languages in different provinces, to such an extent that they cannot understand each other.... &#91;They&#93; also have another language which is like a universal and common language; this is the official language of the mandarins and of the court; it is among them like Latin among ourselves.... Two of our fathers &#91;Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci&#93; have been learning this mandarin language...|[[Alessandro Valignano]]|Historia del principio y progresso de la Compañía de Jesús en las Indias Orientales|I:28 (1542–1564){{sfnp|Coblin|2000|p=539}}}}

Until the mid-20th century, most Chinese people living in many parts of [[South China]] spoke only their local variety. As a practical measure, officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties carried out the administration of the empire using a common language based on Mandarin varieties, known as ''Guānhuà''. Knowledge of this language was thus essential for an official career, but it was never formally defined.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=136}}

Officials varied widely in their pronunciation; in 1728, the [[Yongzheng Emperor]], unable to understand the accents of officials from [[Guangdong]] and [[Fujian]], issued a decree requiring the governors of those provinces to provide for the teaching of proper pronunciation. Although the resulting Academies for Correct Pronunciation ({{zhi|c=正音書院|p=Zhèngyīn Shūyuàn}}) were short-lived, the decree did spawn a number of textbooks that give some insight into the ideal pronunciation. Common features included:
* loss of the Middle Chinese voiced initials except for ''v-''
* merger of ''-m'' finals with ''-n''
* the characteristic Mandarin four-tone system in open syllables, but retaining a final glottal stop in "entering tone" syllables
* retention of the distinction between [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalized]] velars and dental affricates, the source of the spellings "Peking" and "Tientsin" for modern "Beijing" and "Tianjin".{{sfnp|Kaske|2008|pp=48–52}}

As the last two of these features indicate, this language was a [[Koiné language|koiné]] based on dialects spoken in the [[Nanjing]] area, though not identical to any single dialect.{{sfnp|Coblin|2003|p=353}} This form remained prestigious long after the capital moved to [[Beijing]] in 1421, though the speech of the new capital emerged as a rival standard. As late as 1815, [[Robert Morrison (missionary)|Robert Morrison]] based the [[A Dictionary of the Chinese Language|first English–Chinese dictionary]] on this koiné as the standard of the time, though he conceded that the Beijing dialect was gaining in influence.<ref>{{cite book|title=A dictionary of the Chinese language: in three parts, Volume 1|given=Robert|surname=Morrison|year=1815|publisher=P.P. Thoms|page=x|url=https://archive.org/details/p1dictionaryofch01morruoft|oclc=680482801}}</ref> By the middle of the 19th century, the Beijing dialect had become dominant and was essential for any business with the imperial court.{{sfnp|Coblin|2000|pp=540–541}}

===Standard Chinese===
{{Main|Standard Chinese}}
The variant of Mandarin as spoken by educated classes in [[Beijing]] was made the official language of China by the [[Qing dynasty]] in the early 1900s and the successive Republican government. In the early years of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], intellectuals of the [[New Culture Movement]], such as [[Hu Shih]] and [[Chen Duxiu]], successfully campaigned for the replacement of [[Literary Chinese]] as the written standard by [[written vernacular Chinese]], which was based on northern dialects. A parallel priority was the definition of a standard national language ({{lang-zh|t=國語|w=Kuo²-yü³|s=国语|p=Guóyǔ|first=t}}). After much dispute between proponents of northern and southern dialects and an abortive attempt at [[Old National Pronunciation|an artificial pronunciation]], the [[National Languages Committee|National Language Unification Commission]] finally settled on the Beijing dialect in 1932. The People's Republic, founded in 1949, retained this standard, calling it {{zhp|p=pǔtōnghuà|s=普通话|t=普通話|l=common speech}}.{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|pp=3–15}} Some 54% of speakers of Mandarin varieties could understand the standard language in the early 1950s, rising to 91% in 1984.  Nationally, the proportion understanding the standard rose from 41% to 90% over the same period.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=27–28}}

This standard language is now used in education, the media, and formal occasions in both [[mainland China]] and [[Taiwan]], as well as among the [[Chinese Singaporeans|Chinese community of Singapore]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=247}}{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=63–64}} However, in other parts of the [[Sinophone|Chinese-speaking world]], namely [[Hong Kong]] and [[Macau]], the standard form of Chinese used in education, the media, formal speech, and everyday life remains the local [[Cantonese]] because of their colonial and linguistic history.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=62–63}} While Standard Mandarin is now the medium of instruction in schools throughout China, it still has yet to gain traction as a common language among the local population in areas where Mandarin dialects are not native.{{sfnp|Zhang|Yang|2004}} In these regions,  people may be either [[diglossia|diglossic]] or speak the standard language with a notable accent.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=41–46}} However, since the start of the 21st century, there has been an effort of mass education in Standard Mandarin Chinese and discouragement of local language usage by the Chinese government in order to erase these regional differences.<ref>Wong, Wing. [https://www.mironline.ca/the-slow-death-of-chinas-dialects/ The Slow Death of China's Dialects] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812204137/https://www.mironline.ca/the-slow-death-of-chinas-dialects/ |date=2021-08-12 }}, ''McGill International Review'', 21 Feb 2019.</ref>

From an official point of view, the mainland Chinese and the Taiwanese governments maintain their own forms of the standard under different names. The codified forms of both ''Pǔtōnghuà'' and ''Guóyǔ'' base their [[phonology]] on the Beijing accent, and also take some elements from other sources, and deviate from the Beijing dialect in vocabulary, grammar, and [[pragmatics]].{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=136–137}} Comparison of dictionaries produced in the two areas will show that there are few substantial differences. However, both versions of "school-standard" Chinese are often quite different from the Mandarin varieties that are spoken in accordance with regional habits, and neither is wholly identical to the [[Beijing dialect]].{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=37–41, 46–48}}

The written forms of Standard Chinese are also essentially equivalent, although [[simplified Chinese characters|simplified characters]] are used in mainland China and Singapore, while [[traditional Chinese characters|traditional characters]] remain in use in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=162–163}} Singapore has followed mainland China in officially adopting simplified characters.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|p=163}}