China is a huge country with the largest population. Now more than a billion people live here. This is probably why many dialects and adverbs are used on the territory of the state. Although there is also an official language, which is used in most regions. There is also an oral version and a written version. So, today we will find out if Mandarin has something in common with citrus, as well as where and by whom it is used.
From where?
Speaking of this adverb, it is worth starting with the main thing. Mandarin is not just the most spoken language in the country. It is also considered the main dialect group. This is where Mandarin Chinese comes in. In addition to the fact that Dungan also belongs to Northern Chinese, it is most often called “mandarin” (from the word “putonghua”). This name is perhaps justified. Although Mandarin here occupies only part of the group. But this name was given to Northern Chinese thanks to Western literature, in particular Europeans. In the understanding of the inhabitants of the CIS, it is the Chinese language that is Northern Chinese,or its variety Mandarin.
Variety of Mandarin Chinese
As mentioned earlier, this dialect includes not only Putonghua (Mandarin), but also other dialects. They are all divided into 8 subgroups. Moreover, they are classified due to the regions of the republic. For example, there is a northeastern subgroup of dialects. It is not difficult to guess that it is used by the inhabitants of this particular region of China. There is also a Beijing subgroup spoken by residents of the capital.
There are, of course, more complex combinations, by which it is difficult for ordinary people to understand the affiliation of dialect speakers. For example, the Jianghuai subgroup occupies a small area that is located near the Yangtze River. Among other things, there are zhongyuan, lan-yin, chi-lu and chiao-liao subgroups. They occupy a large area. But the most common, perhaps, can be considered the southwestern subgroup. In the photo below, areas where Mandarin is used are shown in dark green.
Supplement
Along with the Mandarin language, there are also less common ones in the Northern Chinese group. For example, Jin speech is used by only 45 million people. They live in Shanxi province, as well as in northern Shaanxi and Hebei.
Beijing Branch
This includes seven major dialects. Of the most famous: Beijing and Putonghua (Mandarin). Among other things, there are special dialects that, in principle, have similar roots with standard Chinese. However, they are distinguished by theirdistribution and media.
There are Karamay, Hailar, Chifeng dialects, as well as the Chengde and Jin dialects mentioned earlier. All of these language forms belong, in particular, to the Beijing branch and are the most understandable for those who study Chinese, as they are the most standardized.
Official
The official language of China is Chinese. It has 10 dialect groups. For communication, the population uses the normative Chinese language, which is called Putonghua here. It is also used in Singapore (huayu), and in Hong Kong and Taiwan it is called guoyu. Putonghua is usually referred to as an dialect that is spoken orally. In written language, the standard is called baihua.
Basis
As mentioned earlier, Putonghua refers to the Beijing dialect, which belongs to the Northern Chinese group. The grammar of the language complies with all the norms that are enshrined in literary works.
Name
Putonghua can be called differently in different regions. The official name is used directly in Beijing and the surrounding area. As mentioned earlier, in Singapore it is called huayu, just like in Malaysia. But in Taiwan - goyu. Putonghua in the West got a strange name at all - Mandarin. It all started with European literature. And they like to call it not just Putonghua, but the entire northern Chinese group.
In addition, in the West they often usedialect special term - Standard Mandarin. It has many variants: "Mandarin", "Mandarin Chinese", etc. In Russia, it is still customary to distinguish between Putonghua and its related dialects. And the "citrus" version is not at all accepted by the academic community. Although the media for the "red word" like to use this name.
Portuguese roots
Mandarin Chinese owes this "citrusy" name to Portugal. Few people know that the Northern Chinese language is sometimes called Guanhua. Literally, this translates as - "bureaucratic speech." This once again proves that Mandarin is used only by educated and very well-read people.
In Portugal, high-ranking officials were often called "tangerines", which meant "minister, official". In the days of imperial China, this is how the Portuguese called influential people. Therefore, a little later, tracing-paper on guanhua appeared, and putonghua received an unofficial name - “mandarin”.
Tangerine variety
In general, besides the fact that Putonghua is a very common dialect, it still has several subgroups. This is primarily due to the fact that when it was introduced as an official dialect, those areas that did not previously speak any dialect of Mandarin Chinese reformatted Putonghua into their own version. As a result, Mandarin dialects, as mentioned earlier, are common in other regions. Among them are Taiwanese goyu, Singaporean huayu, as well as a variety of putonghua -Guangdong.
Historical base
Before Putonghua, the informal oral form of the northern dialect, Guanhua, was previously used. There is a possibility that it began to form as early as 1266. Then the Chinese capital was moved to the territory of modern Beijing. At that time, the Yuan Dynasty began its reign. In 1909, goyu became known, which for some time was the official standard. It was later renamed Putonghua. This standard included not only written but also oral norms.
Who's talking?
The authorities were faced with the task of more actively spreading Putonghua as an oral equivalent of speech in those areas of China where other dialects are used. This issue was even written into the Chinese Constitution. But the process of distribution itself is rather slow. Mandarin is now used on TV and radio, but only half of the country's population can be explained in this language. Only 18% use the dialect at home, in communication. And 42% of residents speak Mandarin at school and at work.
To control this issue, an exam was introduced that shows the level of dialect proficiency. Determining who speaks Mandarin just got a whole lot easier. But it turned out that the results are not what we would like to see after more than 30 years of the introduction of Mandarin.
The highest indicator is the level of "1-A". It is awarded to those who made less than 3% of errors. Most often, this result is passed an examborn Beijingers. And among the rest of the population, this indicator is extremely rare. If in Beijing 90% of the examinees received it, then the nearest leader was the city of Tianjin with 25% of those who passed.
To work on radio and television, you can make no more than 8% of mistakes, and this is the level of "1-B". It is the media representatives who should receive such an exam result. To get a job as a teacher of Chinese literature, you can make no more than 13% of mistakes - level "2-A". Despite such depressing figures for the spread of Putonghua, many Chinese are still able to understand this dialect. Although they may not be able to speak this dialect.
