How many languages are there in China?

56 All ethnic groups have their own languages, and Chinese alone can be divided into the following categories: Mandarin, or Mandarin dialect, northern dialect, etc. It refers to the mother tongue dialects used in North China, Northeast and Northwest China, most of Hubei, Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou, northern Hunan, areas along the Yangtze River in Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu. 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 differentiated into the sounds of Middle Ancient Chinese after the chaos of Wu and the crossing of Yi Guan to the south. The modern "Mandarin dialect" was mainly formed in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. After its formation, Mandarin developed in the north and south respectively, and divided into Southern Mandarin and Northern Mandarin, which became the official languages of later generations in China. Northern Mandarin is still the basis of modern standard Chinese (called Putonghua in Chinese mainland and Mandarin in Taiwan Province). People who use this dialect account for 7% of the population in China. It should be pointed out that "Mandarin Dialect", once called "Northern Dialect", is not confined to northern China. On the contrary, the southern dialects in southwest China and Jianghuai areas also belong to Mandarin dialects. The obvious features of Mandarin include: all the tones entered in the Middle Ages have been lost, and the endings of "-p, -t, -k, -m, -n, -ng" in the Middle Ages are now only "-n, -ng", but there are a lot of rhymes of "-r". The initial consonant "g, k, h" originally connected with the vowel "I, ü" has been transformed into the initial consonant "j, q, x" by jaw sound. In the process of losing the opposition between clarity and turbidity, Mandarin has not undergone drastic tone differentiation, but there has been a soft tone beyond the middle ancient level. Therefore, Mandarin dialect contains a large number of homophones and corresponding compound words. The above phenomenon is relatively rare in other dialects. Wu dialect Wu dialect: It 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 it is impossible to talk to Taihu Lake Wu dialect as a typical Wu dialect. The number of users is about 8.4% of the total population. The distinction between voiced and unvoiced consonants in this dialect is an obvious feature. However, Wu dialect retains the fuzzy tone of middle ancient Chinese. Hakka dialect, or Hakka language: it is widely used by Hakka people and most She people 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 quite a few Hakka speakers in Taiwan Province. Although it is a southern dialect, Hakka dialect was formed under the influence of northern immigrants going south. Hakka dialect thus retains some features of Middle Ages Zhongyuan dialect. The population using Hakka dialect accounts for about 5% of the total population. Hakka dialect is characterized by a flat tone, in which the upper tone is divided into yin and yang, but the entering tone is divided into yin and yang. Min dialect, or Min dialect: It is spoken in Fujian, Hainan, eastern Guangdong, the Philippines, Taiwan Province, Singapore, Malaysia and other overseas Chinese. Because of the great internal differences, Min dialect is usually divided into Minnan dialect (represented by Xiamen dialect), Northern Min dialect (represented by Jian 'ou dialect), Eastern Min dialect (represented by Fuzhou dialect), Puxian dialect and Central Min 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 is the most influential. However, according to the existing phonetics research, the phonology of Min dialect is quite close to that of ancient Chinese. There are "-m, -n, -ng, -p, -t, -k,-"in Minnan dialect (in a narrow sense, that is, Minnan dialect in Fujian and Taiwan). ? 3 "(the international phonetic symbol that looks like a question mark is a tight throat. ) Before the entering tone [-p/-t/-k] disappears,' entering tone weakening' occurs first, and [-p/-t/-k] all becomes? ? 3。 Shanxi dialect still retains this kind of weakening tone) "seven consonant endings. Minnan dialect is one of the dialects with complex tones in Chinese. Quanzhou has eight tones (excluding light tone), while Zhangzhou, Xiamen, Tongan and Taiwan Province 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 preserve Middle 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. Minnan dialect in a broad sense also includes Hainan dialect, Chaozhou dialect, southern Zhejiang Fujian dialect, etc. The population using Minnan dialect is about 4.2% of the total. Cantonese Cantonese: Cantonese is spoken in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, the eastern part of Guangxi and overseas Chinese, and 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 six consonant endings of -p, -t, -k, -m, -n and -ng in Middle Chinese. Cantonese has no mixed tone, 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 is a great difference in vocabulary and grammar between the spoken Cantonese and the modern Chinese vernacular widely used in society, and there is a serious phenomenon of separation between text and speech. Cantonese has its own written vernacular expression, see Cantonese vernacular. There are many dialects in Cantonese. Please refer to Cantonese dialects for details. The population of Han people who use Cantonese is about 5% of the total population of Han people. More than 9% of overseas Chinese, especially those in America 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 retained or not, it can be divided into two categories: Laoxiang and Xinxiang, among which the new Xiang dialect with all voiced initials cleared is relatively close to Southwest Mandarin. Changsha dialect (new) and Shuangfeng dialect (old) are represented respectively, and the users account for about 5% of the total population. Historically, Hunan and Hubei provinces have been strongly influenced by northern culture, so there are great differences in Hunan dialect. And 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 parts of Jiangxi and southeastern Hunan. The number of users is about 2.4%. Gan dialect is very close to Hakka dialect in phonology, so there is a proposal to classify Gan Hakka dialect in a unified way in academic circles. It is still controversial whether several dialects below other dialects constitute independent large dialect areas: Jin dialect: it is used in most parts of Shanxi, northern Shaanxi, western Hebei, northwestern Henan, Hetao area of Inner Mongolia, etc., represented by Taiyuan dialect, and has an entering rhyme-[-? ? The international phonetic symbol that looks like a question mark is a tight throat. Before the entering tone [-p/-t/-k] disappears,' entering tone weakening' occurs first, and [-p/-t/-k] becomes [-? ? 3]）。 Its white reading system is completely different from Mandarin. In the past (and now many linguists), it was classified as Mandarin. Pinghua: It is used in some areas of Guangxi. Traditionally, Guinanping dialect is classified as Cantonese. In recent years, some people advocate that Guibeiping dialect exists as an isolated dialect. Hui language: used in southern Anhui and some adjacent areas of Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Previously (and now some linguists) classified it as Wu dialect.