Editing Standard Chinese (section)

=== Regional accents ===
It is common for Standard Chinese to be spoken with the speaker's regional accent, depending on factors such as age, level of education, and the need and frequency to speak in official or formal situations.

Due to evolution and standardization, Mandarin, although based on the Beijing dialect, is no longer synonymous with it. Part of this was due to the standardization to reflect a greater vocabulary scheme and a more archaic and "proper-sounding" pronunciation and vocabulary.

Distinctive features of the Beijing dialect are more extensive use of ''erhua'' in vocabulary items that are left unadorned in descriptions of the standard such as the ''[[Xiandai Hanyu Cidian]]'', as well as more neutral tones.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|pp=39–40}} An example of standard versus Beijing dialect would be the standard {{transliteration|zh|mén}} (door) and Beijing {{transliteration|zh|ménr}}.

While the Standard Chinese spoken in Taiwan is nearly identical to that of mainland China, the colloquial form has been heavily influenced by other local languages, especially Taiwanese Hokkien. Notable differences include: the merger of [[retroflex]] sounds (zh, ch, sh, r) with the [[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] series (z, c, s), frequent mergers of the "neutral tone" with a word's original tone, and absence of ''[[erhua]]''.{{sfnp|Chen|1999|p=47}} [[Code-switching]] between Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkien is common, as the majority of the population continues to also speak the latter as a native language.<ref>{{Citation |last=Chiu |first=Miao-chin |title=Code-switching and Identity Constructions in Taiwan TV Commercials |date=April 2012 |work=Monumenta Taiwanica |volume=5 |url=http://rportal.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/bitstream/20.500.12235/12992/1/ntnulib_ja_B0601_0005_027.pdf |access-date=24 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807182654/http://rportal.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/bitstream/20.500.12235/12992/1/ntnulib_ja_B0601_0005_027.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The stereotypical "southern Chinese" accent does not distinguish between [[retroflex consonant|retroflex]] and [[alveolar consonant]]s, pronouncing pinyin ''zh'' [tʂ], ''ch'' [tʂʰ], and ''sh'' [ʂ] in the same way as ''z'' [ts], ''c'' [tsʰ], and ''s'' [s] respectively.{{sfnp|Norman|1988|p=140}} Southern-accented Standard Chinese may also interchange ''l'' and ''n'', final ''n'' and ''ng'', and vowels ''i'' and ''ü'' [y]. Attitudes towards southern accents, particularly the Cantonese accent, range from disdain to admiration.<ref>{{Citation |last=Blum |first=Susan D. |title=China Off Center: Mapping the Margins of the Middle Kingdom |pages=160–161 |year=2002 |editor-last=Blum |editor-first=Susan Debra |editor-last2=Jensen |editor-first2=Lionel M |chapter=Ethnic and Linguistic Diversity in Kunming |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2577-5}}</ref>