How many languages are there in China?

Every nation has its own language, and only Chinese can be divided into the following categories: Mandarin, or Mandarin dialect, northern dialect and so on. It refers to the mother tongue dialect used in North China, Northeast China, Northwest China, most of Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou, northern Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu along the Yangtze River. Mandarin can be roughly divided into North China Mandarin, Northwest Mandarin, Southwest Mandarin and Jianghuai Mandarin. North China Mandarin is distributed in the eastern part of the north, represented by Beijing dialect, Northwest Mandarin is distributed in the western part of the north, represented by Xi 'an dialect, Southwest Mandarin is distributed in the western part of the south, represented by Chengdu dialect, and Jianghuai Mandarin is distributed in the eastern part of the south, represented by Yangzhou dialect. In ancient times, the elegant sounds of the Central Plains were divided into Middle Ages after the Wu Rebellion and the Southern Crossing of Yiguan. Modern "Mandarin Dialect" was mainly formed in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. After the formation of Mandarin, it developed in the north and south respectively, divided into southern Mandarin and northern Mandarin, and became the official language of China in later generations. Northern Mandarin is still the basis of modern standard Chinese (called Mandarin in Chinese mainland and Mandarin in Taiwan Province Province). People who use this dialect account for 70% of the population in China. It should be pointed out that the "Mandarin Dialect", once called "Northern Dialect", is not confined to northern China. On the contrary, the southern dialects in Southwest China and Jianghuai region also belong to Mandarin dialects. The obvious features of Putonghua include: the tones of entering tones in the Middle Ages have been lost, and the rhymes of "-p, -t, -k, -m, -n and -ng" in the Middle Ages are only "-n, -ng", but there are a lot of rhymes of "-r". The initial consonant "G, K, H" originally connected with vowel "I, ü" has been transformed into initial consonant "J, Q, X" by jaw sound. In the process of losing the opposition between clarity and turbidity, Putonghua did not have a sharp tone differentiation, but appeared a light tone beyond the medieval level. Therefore, Putonghua dialect contains a large number of homophones and corresponding compound words. The above phenomenon is relatively rare in other dialects. Wu dialect Wu dialect: Wu dialect is spoken in China, southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, Shanghai and most parts of Zhejiang. The typical Wu dialect is represented by Suzhou dialect. Among them, southwest Anhui is influenced by Gan dialect, while south Zhejiang retains many features of ancient Baiyue dialect, so that Taihu Wu dialect cannot be regarded as a typical Wu dialect. The number of users accounts for about 8.4% of the total population. The difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds in this dialect is an obvious feature. However, Wu dialect retains the vague tone of middle ancient Chinese. Hakka dialect, or Hakka dialect: it is widely used in Hakka and most She ethnic groups in southern China, including eastern Guangdong, northern Guangdong, western Fujian, southwestern Jiangxi and southeastern Guangxi, with Meixian dialect as the representative; In addition, there are many Hakka speakers in Taiwan Province Province. Although it is a southern dialect, Hakka dialect was formed under the influence of northern immigrants going south. Therefore, Hakka dialect retains some features of Zhongyuan dialect in the Middle Ages. The population using Hakka dialect accounts for about 5% of the total population. Hakka dialect is characterized by a flat tone, with the upper tone divided into yin and yang, but the entering tone divided into yin and yang. Min language: Fujian, Hainan, eastern Guangdong, the Philippines, Taiwan Province Province, Singapore, Malaysia and other overseas Chinese all speak Min language. Due to great internal differences, Min dialect is usually divided into Minnan dialect (represented by Xiamen dialect), Northern Fujian dialect (represented by Jian 'ou dialect), Eastern Fujian dialect (represented by Fuzhou dialect), Puxian dialect and Central Fujian dialect. Among all dialects, Min dialect is the only dialect that does not completely correspond to the rhyme book of Middle Ancient Chinese, among which Minnan dialect has the greatest influence. However, according to the existing phonetics research, the pronunciation of Min dialect is quite close to that of ancient Chinese. Minnan dialect includes "-m, -n, -ng, -p, -t, -k," (Minnan dialect in a narrow sense, namely Minnan dialect in Fujian and Taiwan). 0? The international phonetic symbol that looks like a question mark is tight throat. ) Before the entering tone [-p/-t/-k] disappears, the entering tone weakens first, and [-p/-t/-k] all becomes? 0? 3。 Shanxi dialect still retains this weakening sound) "at the end of seven consonants. Minnan dialect is one of the dialects with complex tones in Chinese. Quanzhou has eight tones (excluding light tone), and Zhangzhou, Xiamen, Tongan and Taiwan Province provinces usually have seven tones (excluding light tone and high tone). At the same time, Minnan dialect is also one of the most complete dialects that preserved Middle Ancient Chinese. Quanzhou pronunciation and Zhangzhou pronunciation are the mother tongues of other branches, and the Minnan dialect in Fujian (South) Taiwan films is relatively consistent. In a broad sense, Minnan dialect also includes Hainan dialect, Chaozhou dialect and southern Zhejiang Min dialect. The population using Minnan dialect accounts for about 4.2% of total population. Cantonese Cantonese: Cantonese is spoken by Chinese in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, eastern Guangxi and overseas. Some ethnic minorities in China, such as Jing and some Zhuang, also use Cantonese. Cantonese is one of the most complicated tones in many branches of Chinese. Standard Cantonese has nine tones, and some dialects, such as Goulou Dialect and Guinan Dialect, have ten tones. Cantonese completely retains the endings of the six consonants -p, -t, -k, -m, -n and -ng in Middle Chinese. There is no mixed tone in Cantonese, so it can be considered that the ancient Chinese elements preserved in Cantonese are earlier than Wu dialect, but later than Min dialect, which corresponds to the middle ancient Chinese in Sui and Tang dynasties. Most Chinese characters have corresponding Cantonese pronunciations. There are great differences in vocabulary and grammar between spoken Cantonese and modern Chinese vernacular widely used in society, and there is a serious phenomenon of text-language separation. Cantonese has its own written vernacular expression, see Cantonese vernacular. There are many dialects in Cantonese. Please refer to Cantonese dialect for details. The population of Han people who use Cantonese accounts for about 5% of the total population of Han people. More than 90% of overseas Chinese, especially those in the United States and Australia, are Cantonese immigrants, and Cantonese is widely used. Xiang dialect Xiang dialect, or Xiang dialect: used in Hunan. According to whether the voiced initials are preserved or not, it can be divided into two categories: Laoxiang and Xinxiang, and the new Xiang dialect with the voiced initials removed is closer to the Southwest Mandarin. Represented by Changsha dialect (new) and Shuangfeng dialect (old) respectively, users account for about 5% of the total population. Historically, Hunan and Hubei provinces have been greatly influenced by the northern culture, so Hunan dialects are very different. Moreover, there are overlapping phonetic features of ancient Chinese in many periods. Gan Dialect Gan Dialect, or Gan Dialect: represented by Nanchang Dialect, is mainly used in most areas of Jiangxi and southeastern Hunan. The number of users is about 2.4%. Gan dialect and Hakka dialect are very similar in phonology, so there is a proposal to divide Gan dialect into Hakka dialects in academic circles. At present, it is still controversial whether several dialects under other dialects constitute independent large dialect areas: Jin dialect: it is popular in most areas of western Shanxi, northern Shaanxi, western Hebei, northwestern Henan, Hetao area of Inner Mongolia and so on. , represented by Taiyuan dialect, has an entering rhyme-[-? 0? The international phonetic symbol that looks like a question mark is tight throat. Before the entering tone [-p/-t/-k] disappears,' entering tone weakening' appears first, and [-p/-t/-k] becomes [-? 0? 3])。 Its white reading system is completely different from Mandarin. In the past (now many linguists) classified it as Mandarin. Pinghua: It is used in some areas of Guangxi. Traditionally, Guinanping dialect is classified as Cantonese. In recent years, it has been argued that Beiping dialect in Guangxi exists as an isolated dialect. Hui language: used in southern Anhui and some adjacent areas of Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. In the past (and now there are some linguists), it was classified as Wu dialect.