Editing Mandarin Chinese (section)

==Vocabulary==
There are more polysyllabic words in Mandarin than in all other major varieties of Chinese except [[Shanghainese]]{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}}. This is partly because Mandarin has undergone many more sound changes than southern varieties of Chinese have, and needed to deal with many more [[homophone]]s. New words have been formed by adding [[affix]]es such as {{zhp|p=lao-|c=老}}, {{zhp|p=-zi|c=子}}, {{zhp|p=-(e)r|s=儿|t=兒}}, and {{zhp|p=-tou|s=头|t=頭}}, or by compounding, e.g. by combining two words of similar meaning as in {{zhp|p=cōngmáng|c=匆忙}}, made from elements meaning "hurried" and "busy".
A distinctive feature of southwestern Mandarin is its frequent use of noun [[reduplication]], which is hardly used in Beijing. In [[Sichuan]], one hears {{zhp|p=bāobāo|c=包包}} "handbag" where Beijing uses {{zhp|p=bāor|s=包儿}}.
There are also a small number of words that have been polysyllabic since Old Chinese, such as {{zhp|p=húdié|c=蝴蝶|l=butterfly}}.

The singular [[pronoun]]s in Mandarin are {{zhp|p=wǒ|c={{linktext|我}}|l=I}}, {{tlit|zh|nǐ}} ({{linktext|lang=zh|你}} or {{linktext|lang=zh|妳}}, 'you') , {{zhp|p=nín|c={{linktext|您}}|tr=you (formal)}}, and {{tlit|zh|tā}} ({{linktext|lang=zh|他}}, {{linktext|lang=zh|她}} or {{zhi|s={{linktext|它}}|t={{linktext|牠}}}}, "he", "she", "it"), with {{zhp|p=-men|s={{linktext|们}}|t=們}} added for the plural. Further, there is a distinction between the plural first-person pronoun {{zhp|p=zánmen|s={{linktext|咱们}}|t=咱們}}, which is inclusive of the listener, and {{zhp|p=wǒmen|s={{linktext|我们}}|t=我們}}, which may be exclusive of the listener. Dialects of Mandarin agree with each other quite consistently on these pronouns.  While the first and second person singular pronouns are cognate with forms in other varieties of Chinese, the rest of the pronominal system is a Mandarin innovation (e.g., [[Shanghainese]] has {{zhi|p=non|s={{linktext|侬}}|t=儂|l=you}} and {{zhi|p=yi|c={{linktext|伊}}|l=he, she}}).{{sfnp|Norman|1988|pp=182, 195–196}}

Because of contact with Mongolian and Manchurian peoples, Mandarin (especially the Northeastern varieties) has some loanwords from these languages not present in other varieties of Chinese, such as {{transliteration|zh|[[hutong|hútòng]]}} ({{lang|zh|胡同}}) "alley". [[List of Chinese dialects|Southern Chinese]] varieties have borrowed from [[Tai languages|Tai]],{{sfnp|Ramsey|1987|pp=36–38}} [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]],<ref>{{cite journal | surname=Norman | given=Jerry | title=The Austroasiatics in ancient South China: some lexical evidence | journal=Monumenta Serica | volume=32 | pages=274–301 | year=1976 |author2=Mei, Tsu-lin |author1-link=Jerry Norman (sinologist) |author2-link=Mei Tsu-lin | doi=10.1080/02549948.1976.11731121 }}</ref> and [[Austronesian languages]].

There are also many Chinese words which come from foreign languages such as {{zhp|p=gāo'ěrfū|c=高尔夫}} from "golf"; {{zhp|p=bǐjīní|c=比基尼}} from "bikini", and {{zhp|p=hànbǎo bāo|s=汉堡包}} from "hamburger".

In general, the greatest variation occurs in slang, in kinship terms, in names for common crops and domesticated animals, for common verbs and adjectives, and other such everyday terms. The least variation occurs in "formal" vocabulary—terms dealing with science, law, or government.