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69-630: Since kokuji are generally devised for existing native words, they usually only have native kun readings . However, they occasionally also have a Chinese on reading derived from a related kanji, such as 働 ( dō , 'work'), which takes its on pronunciation from 動 ( dō , 'move'). In rare cases a kokuji may only have an on reading, such as 腺 ( sen , 'gland'), which was derived from 泉 ( sen , 'spring, fountain') for use in medical terminology. The majority of kokuji are semantic compounds , meaning that they are composed of two (or more) characters with relevant meanings. For example, 働 ('work')

138-432: A lingua franca to facilitate communication between speakers of mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese and non-Sinitic languages . The name Putonghua , or 'common speech', reinforces this idea. However, due to Standard Chinese being a "public" lingua franca, other Chinese varieties and even non-Sinitic languages have shown signs of losing ground to the standard dialect. In many areas, especially in southern China, it

207-565: A few hours each week in Taiwan starting in the mid-1990s. With an increase in internal migration in China , the official Putonghua Proficiency Test (PSC) has become popular. Employers often require a level of Standard Chinese proficiency from applicants depending on the position, and many university graduates on the mainland take the PSC before looking for a job. The pronunciation of Standard Chinese

276-579: A form of the Japanese language dubbed kokugo ( 国語 ). Reformers in the Qing bureaucracy took inspiration and borrowed the term into Chinese, and in 1909 the Qing education ministry officially proclaimed imperial Mandarin as Guoyu ( 国语 ; 國語 ), the 'national language'. After the Republic of China was established in 1912, there was more success in promoting a common national language. A Commission on

345-564: 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. An example of standard versus Beijing dialect would be the standard mén (door) and Beijing ménr . While

414-697: A lesser extent. Much of the Taiwanese Aboriginal population spoke their native Formosan languages . During the period of martial law between 1949 and 1987, the Taiwanese government revived the Mandarin Promotion Council , discouraging or in some cases forbidding the use of Hokkien and other non-standard varieties. This resulted in Standard Chinese replacing Hokkien as the country's lingua franca, and ultimately,

483-525: A more limited extent in Korea and Vietnam. Kun%27yomi Kun'yomi ( 訓読み , [kɯɰ̃jomi] , lit. "meaning reading") is the way of reading kanji characters using the native Japanese word that matches the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced. This pronunciation is contrasted with on'yomi , which is the reading based on the original Chinese pronunciation of

552-474: A number of cases, multiple kanji were assigned to cover a single Japanese word. Typically when this occurs, the different kanji refer to specific shades of meaning. For instance, the word なおす , naosu , when written 治す , means "to heal an illness or sickness". When written 直す it means "to fix or correct something". Sometimes the distinction is very clear, although not always. Differences of opinion among reference works are not uncommon; one dictionary may say

621-464: A political backlash in the 1990s. Starting in the 2000s during the administration of President Chen Shui-Bian , the Taiwanese government began making efforts to recognize the country's other languages. They began being taught in schools, and their use increased in media, though Standard Chinese remains the country's lingua franca. Chen often used Hokkien in his speeches; later Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui also openly spoke Hokkien. In an amendment to

690-580: A single kanji, the longest readings in the jōyō character set . These unusually long readings are due to a single character representing a compound word: Further, some Jōyō characters have long non-Jōyō readings (students learn the character, but not the reading), such as omonpakaru for 慮る . Standard Mandarin Standard Chinese ( simplified Chinese : 现代标准汉语 ; traditional Chinese : 現代標準漢語 ; pinyin : Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ ; lit. 'modern standard Han speech')

759-589: A very large number of fish such as 鰯 ( sardine ), 鱈 ( codfish ), 鮴 ( seaperch ), and 鱚 ( sillago ), and trees such as 樫 ( evergreen oak ), 椙 ( Japanese cedar ), 椛 ( birch , maple ) and 柾 ( spindle tree ). The term kokuji in Japanese can refer to any character created outside of China, including Korean gukja ( 國字, 국자 ) and Vietnamese chữ Nôm . Wasei kanji refers specifically to kanji invented in Japan. Historically, some kokuji date back to very early Japanese writing, being found in

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828-575: Is ankō ( 鮟鱇 , monkfish ) . This spelling was created in Edo period Japan from the ateji (phonetic kanji spelling) 安康 for the existing word ankō by adding the 魚 radical to each character—the characters were "made in Japan". However, 鮟 is not considered kokuji, as it is found in ancient Chinese texts as a corruption of 鰋 (魚匽). 鱇 is considered kokuji, as it has not been found in any earlier Chinese text. Casual listings may be more inclusive, including characters such as 鮟 . Another example

897-500: Is sakazuki "sake cup", which may be spelt as at least five different kanji: 杯, 盃, 巵/卮 , and 坏 ; of these, the first two are common—formally 杯 is a small cup and 盃 a large cup. Local dialectical readings of kanji are also classified under kun'yomi , most notably readings for words in Ryukyuan languages . Further, in rare cases gairaigo (borrowed words) have a single character associated with them, in which case this reading

966-636: Is 搾 , which is sometimes not considered kokuji due to its earlier presence as a corruption of Chinese 榨 . There are hundreds of kokuji in existence. Many are rarely used, but a number have become commonly used components of the written Japanese language. These include the following: Jōyō kanji has about nine kokuji; there is some dispute over classification, but generally includes these: jinmeiyō kanji Hyōgaiji: Some of these characters (for example, 腺 , "gland") have been introduced to China; additionally, Standard Mandarin readings are assigned to some kokuji used in Japanese toponymy , for example by

1035-493: Is a form of Standard Chinese that is read aloud with the Cantonese reading of characters. Like other Sinitic languages , Standard Chinese is a tonal language with topic-prominent organization and subject–verb–object (SVO) word order. Compared with southern varieties, the language has fewer vowels, final consonants and tones, but more initial consonants. It is an analytic language , albeit with many compound words . In

1104-762: Is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912–1949). It is designated as the official language of mainland China and a major language in the United Nations , Singapore , and Taiwan . It is largely based on the Beijing dialect . Standard Chinese is a pluricentric language with local standards in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore that mainly differ in their lexicon . Hong Kong written Chinese , used for formal written communication in Hong Kong and Macau,

1173-518: Is colloquially referred to as simply Mandarin , though this term may also refer to the Mandarin dialect group as a whole, or the late imperial form used as a lingua franca . "Mandarin" is a translation of Guanhua ( 官話 ; 官话 ; 'bureaucrat speech'), which referred to the late imperial lingua franca. The term Modern Standard Mandarin is used to distinguish it from older forms. The word Guoyu ( 国语 ; 國語 ; 'national language')

1242-504: Is common, as the majority of the population continues to also speak the latter as a native language. The stereotypical "southern Chinese" accent does not distinguish between retroflex and alveolar consonants , pronouncing pinyin zh [tʂ], ch [tʂʰ], and sh [ʂ] in the same way as z [ts], c [tsʰ], and s [s] respectively. 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

1311-468: Is commonly used for practical reasons, as linguistic diversity is so great that residents of neighboring cities may have difficulties communicating with each other without a lingua franca. The Chinese government's language policy been largely successful, with over 80% of the Chinese population able to speak Standard Chinese as of 2020. The Chinese government's current goal is to have 85% of the country's population speak Standard Chinese by 2025, and virtually

1380-599: Is composed of 亻 ('person' radical) plus 動 ('move'). This is in contrast to Chinese kanji, which are overwhelmingly phono-semantic compounds . This is because the phonetic element of phono-semantic kanji is always based on the on reading, which most kokuji don't have, leaving semantic compounding as the only alternative. Other examples include 榊 ' sakaki tree ', formed from 木 'tree' and 神 'deity' (literally 'divine tree'), and 辻 'crossroads' formed from 辶 'road' and 十 'cross'. Kokuji are especially common for describing species of flora and fauna including

1449-449: Is defined as that of the Beijing dialect . The usual unit of analysis is the syllable, consisting of an optional initial consonant , an optional medial glide , a main vowel and an optional coda, and further distinguished by a tone . The palatal initials [tɕ] , [tɕʰ] and [ɕ] pose a classic problem of phonemic analysis. Since they occur only before high front vowels, they are in complementary distribution with three other series,

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1518-486: Is formally classified as a kun'yomi , because the character is being used for meaning, not sound. Most kokuji , Japanese-created Chinese characters, only have kun'yomi , although some have back-formed a pseudo- on'yomi by analogy with similar characters, such as 働 dō , from 動 dō , and there are even some, such as 腺 sen "gland", that have only an on'yomi . 承る uketamawaru , 志 kokorozashi , and 詔 mikotonori have five syllables represented by

1587-420: Is the official language of the mandarins and of the court; it is among them like Latin among ourselves.... Two of our fathers [Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci] have been learning this mandarin language... During the 17th century, the state had set up orthoepy academies ( 正音書院 ; zhèngyīn shūyuàn ) in an attempt to conform the speech of bureaucrats to the standard. These attempts had little success: as late as

1656-500: Is the primary lingua franca of more recent Chinese immigrants , is rapidly increasing. While Standard Chinese was made China's official language in the early 20th century, local languages continue to be the main form of everyday communication in much of the country. The language policy adopted by the Chinese government promotes the use of Standard Chinese while also making allowances for the use and preservation of local varieties. From an official point of view, Standard Chinese serves as

1725-573: Is thought to have used a dialect known as yayan rather than regional dialects; during the Han dynasty , texts also referred to tōngyǔ ( 通語 ; 'common language'). The rime books that were written starting in the Northern and Southern period may have reflected standard systems of pronunciation. However, these standard dialects were mostly used by the educated elite, whose pronunciation may still have possessed great variation. For these elites,

1794-610: Is used in informal daily life and is heavily influenced in terms of both grammar and vocabulary by local languages such as Cantonese, Hokkien, and Malay. Instances of code-switching with English, Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, or a combination thereof are also common. In Singapore, the government has heavily promoted a " Speak Mandarin Campaign " since the late 1970s, with the use of other Chinese varieties in broadcast media being prohibited and their use in any context officially discouraged until recently. This has led to some resentment amongst

1863-530: Is used in most official contexts, as well as the media and educational system, contributing to its proliferation. As a result, it is now spoken by most people in both countries, though often with some regional or personal variation in vocabulary and pronunciation. In overseas Chinese communities outside Asia where Cantonese once dominated, such as the Chinatown in Manhattan , the use of Standard Chinese, which

1932-886: The Man'yōshū , for example— 鰯 iwashi "sardine" dates to the Nara period (8th century)—while they have continued to be created as late as the late 19th century, when a number of characters were coined in the Meiji era for new scientific concepts. For example, some characters were produced as regular compounds for some (but not all) SI units, such as 粁 ( 米 "meter" + 千 "thousand, kilo-") for kilometer, 竏 ( 立 "liter" + 千 "thousand, kilo-") for kiloliter, and 瓩 ( 瓦 "gram" + "thousand, kilo-") for kilogram. However, SI units in Japanese today are almost exclusively written using rōmaji or katakana such as キロメートル or ㌖ for km, キロリットル for kl, and キログラム or ㌕ for kg. In Japan,

2001-539: The Guobiao standard GB/T 17693.10. In some cases, the Chinese reading is the inferred Chinese reading, interpreting the character as a phono-semantic compound (as in how on readings are sometimes assigned to these characters in Chinese), while, in other cases (such as 働 ), the Japanese on reading is borrowed (in general this differs from the modern Chinese pronunciation of this phonetic). Similar coinages occurred to

2070-462: The Sanskrit word mantrin ('minister')—and was initially used to refer to Chinese scholar-officials . The Portuguese then began referring to Guanhua as "the language of the mandarins". The Chinese have different languages in different provinces, to such an extent that they cannot understand each other.... [They] also have another language which is like a universal and common language; this

2139-473: The 19th century, the emperor had difficulty understanding some of his ministers in court, who did not always follow a standard pronunciation. Before the 19th century, the lingua franca was based on the Nanjing dialect , but later the Beijing dialect became increasingly influential, despite the mix of officials and commoners speaking various dialects in the capital, Beijing . By some accounts, as late as 1900

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2208-956: The Chinese government has not stated its intent to replace regional varieties with Standard Chinese. However, regulations enacted by local governments to implement the national law−such as the Guangdong National Language Regulations —have included coercive measures to control the public's use of both spoken dialects and traditional characters in writing. Some Chinese speakers who are older or from rural areas cannot speak Standard Chinese fluently or at all—though most are able to understand it. Meanwhile, those from urban areas—as well as younger speakers, who have received their education primarily in Standard Chinese—are almost all fluent in it, with some being unable to speak their local dialect. The Chinese government has disseminated public service announcements promoting

2277-587: The Chinese language was unified in Literary Chinese , a form that was primarily written, as opposed to spoken. The term Guanhua ( 官話 ; 官话 ; 'official speech') was used during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties to refer to the lingua franca spoken within the imperial courts. The term "Mandarin" is borrowed directly from the Portuguese word mandarim , in turn derived from

2346-597: The Enforcement Rules of the Passport Act ( 護照條例施行細則 ) passed on 9 August 2019, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that romanized spellings of names in Hoklo , Hakka and Aboriginal languages may be used in Taiwanese passports. Previously, only Mandarin names could be romanized. Mandarin is one of the four official languages of Singapore, along with English, Malay , and Tamil . Historically, it

2415-455: 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 series (z, c, s), frequent mergers of the "neutral tone" with a word's original tone, and absence of erhua . Code-switching between Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkien

2484-545: The Taiwanese government introduced two laws explicitly recognizing the indigenous Formosan languages and Hakka as "Languages of the nation" ( 國家語言 ) alongside Standard Chinese. Since then, there have been efforts to redefine Guoyu as encompassing all "languages of the nation", rather than exclusively referring to Standard Chinese. Among Chinese people, Hanyu ( 汉语 ; 漢語 ; 'Han language') refers to spoken varieties of Chinese . Zhongwen ( 中文 ; 'written Chinese') refers to written Chinese. Among foreigners,

2553-464: The Unification of Pronunciation was convened with delegates from the entire country. A Dictionary of National Pronunciation ( 國音字典 ; 国音字典 ) was published in 1919, defining a hybrid pronunciation that did not match any existing speech. Meanwhile, despite the lack of a workable standardized pronunciation, colloquial literature in written vernacular Chinese continued to develop. Gradually,

2622-533: The United Kingdom and Macau's handover from Portugal, their governments use Putonghua to communicate with the PRC's Central People's Government . There has been significant effort to promote use of Putonghua in Hong Kong since the handover, including the training of police and teachers. Standard Chinese is the official language of Taiwan . Standard Chinese started being widely spoken in Taiwan following

2691-525: The character. Generally, kun'yomi readings are used for simple, singular words, including most verbs , while on'yomi readings are used for compound, technical words. Kun'yomi are characterized by the strict (C)V syllable structure of Japanese words ( yamato kotoba ). Most noun or adjective kun'yomi are two to three syllables long, while verb kun'yomi are usually between one and three syllables in length, not counting trailing hiragana called okurigana . Okurigana are not considered to be part of

2760-558: The citizenry was originally borrowed from Japan in the early 20th century. In 1902, the Japanese Diet had formed the National Language Research Council to standardize a form of the Japanese language dubbed kokugo ( 国語 ). Reformers in the Qing bureaucracy took inspiration and borrowed the term into Chinese, and in 1909 the Qing education ministry officially proclaimed imperial Mandarin to be

2829-425: The coda of the base syllable in a rhotacizing process called erhua . Each full syllable is pronounced with a phonemically distinctive pitch contour. There are four tonal categories, marked in pinyin with diacritics, as in the words mā ( 媽 ; 妈 ; 'mother'), má ( 麻 ; 'hemp'), mǎ ( 馬 ; 马 ; 'horse') and mà ( 罵 ; 骂 ; 'curse'). The tonal categories also have secondary characteristics. For example,

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2898-406: The context of linguistics , the dialect has been labeled Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin , and in common speech simply Mandarin , more specifically qualified as Standard Mandarin , Modern Standard Mandarin , or Standard Mandarin Chinese . Among linguists, Standard Chinese has been referred to as Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin . It

2967-431: The dental sibilants, retroflexes and velars, which never occur in this position. The [ɹ̩] final, which occurs only after dental sibilant and retroflex initials, is a syllabic approximant , prolonging the initial. The rhotacized vowel [ɚ] forms a complete syllable. A reduced form of this syllable occurs as a sub-syllabic suffix, spelled -r in pinyin and often with a diminutive connotation. The suffix modifies

3036-506: The early Communist leader Qu Qiubai in 1931. His concern echoed within the Communist Party, which adopted the term Putonghua in 1955. Since 1949, usage of the word Guoyu was phased out in the PRC, only surviving in established compound nouns, e.g. ' Mandopop ' ( 国语流行音乐 ; Guóyǔ liúxíng yīnyuè ), or 'Chinese cinema' ( 国语电影 ; Guóyǔ diànyǐng ). In Taiwan, Guoyu is the colloquial term for Standard Chinese. In 2017 and 2018,

3105-573: The end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, with the relocation of the Kuomintang (KMT) to the island along with an influx of refugees from the mainland. The Standard Chinese used in Taiwan differs very little from that of mainland China, with differences largely being in technical vocabulary introduced after 1949. Prior to 1949, the varieties most commonly spoken by Taiwan's Han population were Taiwanese Hokkien , as well as Hakka to

3174-494: The entire country by 2035. Throughout the country, Standard Chinese has heavily influenced local languages through diglossia , replacing them entirely in some cases, especially among younger people in urban areas. The Chinese government is keen to promote Putonghua as the national lingua franca: under the National Common Language and Writing Law , the government is required to promoted its use. Officially,

3243-443: The internal reading of the character, although they are part of the reading of the word. A beginner in the language will rarely come across characters with long readings, but readings of three or even four syllables are not uncommon. This contrasts with on'yomi , which are only one or two syllables, as they were adapted from Chinese characters, which are almost all monosyllabic. As with on'yomi , there can be multiple kun'yomi for

3312-478: The kanji are equivalent, while another dictionary may draw distinctions of use. As a result, native speakers of the language may have trouble knowing which kanji to use and resort to personal preference or by writing the word in hiragana . This latter strategy is frequently employed with more complex cases such as もと moto , which has at least five different kanji: 元, 基, 本, 下 , and 素 , the first three of which have only very subtle differences. Another notable example

3381-462: The kokuji category is strictly defined as characters whose earliest appearance is in Japan. If a character appears earlier in the Chinese literature, it is not considered a kokuji even if the character was independently coined in Japan and unrelated to the Chinese character (meaning "not borrowed from Chinese"). In other words, kokuji are not simply characters that were made in Japan, but characters that were first made in Japan. An illustrative example

3450-581: The medium of instruction with the standard shared with Singaporean Chinese. Together influenced by the Singaporean Speak Mandarin Campaign and Chinese culture revival movement in the 1980s, Malaysian Chinese started their own promotion of Mandarin too, and similar to Singapore, but to a lesser extent, experienced language shift from other Chinese variants to Mandarin. Today, Mandarin functions as lingua franca among Malaysian Chinese, while Hokkien and Cantonese are still retained in

3519-571: The members of the National Language Commission came to settle upon the Beijing dialect, which became the major source of standard national pronunciation due to its prestigious status. In 1932, the commission published the Vocabulary of National Pronunciation for Everyday Use ( 國音常用字彙 ; 国音常用字汇 ), with little fanfare or official announcement. This dictionary was similar to the previous published one except that it normalized

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3588-547: The mid-1960s. Gradually, the term has been re-appropriated to refer specifically to Standard Chinese. The term is mostly used in Singapore , Malaysia , Indonesia , and the Philippines . The Chinese language has had considerable dialectal variation throughout its history, including prestige dialects and linguae francae used throughout the territory controlled by the dynastic states of China. For example, Confucius

3657-627: The name used in Taiwan . The forms of Standard Chinese used in China and Taiwan have diverged somewhat since the end of the Civil War, especially in newer vocabulary, and a little in pronunciation. In 1956, the PRC officially defined Standard Chinese as "the standard form of Modern Chinese with the Beijing phonological system as its norm of pronunciation, and Northern dialects as its base dialect, and looking to exemplary modern works in written vernacular Chinese for its grammatical norms." According to

3726-403: The neutral tone. 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

3795-399: The new national language. The term Putonghua ( 普通话 ; 普通話 ; 'common tongue') dates back to 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate the standard vernacular Mandarin from Literary Chinese and other varieties of Chinese . Since 2000, the Chinese government has used the term "Countrywide common spoken and written language" ( 国家通用语言文字 ), while also making provisions for

3864-428: The northern part and central part of Peninsular Malaysia respectively. In some regions controlled by insurgent groups in northern Myanmar, Mandarin serves as the lingua franca. In both mainland China and Taiwan, Standard Chinese is taught by immersion starting in elementary school. After the second grade, the entire educational system is in Standard Chinese, except for local language classes that have been taught for

3933-508: The official definition, Standard Chinese uses: Proficiency in the new standard was initially limited, even among Mandarin speakers, but increased over the following decades. A 2007 survey conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Education indicated that 53.06% of the population were able to effectively communicate using Standard Chinese. By 2020, this figure had risen to over 80%. In both mainland China and Taiwan, Standard Chinese

4002-491: The older generations, as Singapore's migrant Chinese community is made up almost entirely of people of south Chinese descent. Lee Kuan Yew , the initiator of the campaign, admitted that to most Chinese Singaporeans, Mandarin was a "stepmother tongue" rather than a true mother language. Nevertheless, he saw the need for a unified language among the Chinese community not biased in favor of any existing group. In Malaysia, Mandarin has been adopted by local Chinese-language schools as

4071-491: The position of the Nanjing dialect was considered by some to be above that of Beijing; the postal romanization standards established in 1906 included spellings that reflected elements of Nanjing pronunciation. The sense of Guoyu as a specific language variety promoted for general use by the citizenry was originally borrowed from Japan; in 1902 the Japanese Diet had formed the National Language Research Council to standardize

4140-479: The primary spoken language, alongside a local form of Standard Chinese ( 書面語 ; syu1 min6 jyu5 ; 'written language') used in schools, local government, and formal writing. Written Cantonese may also be used in informal settings such as advertisements, magazines, popular literature, and comics. Mixture of formal and informal written Chinese occurs to various degrees. After the Hong Kong's handover from

4209-509: The pronunciations for all characters into the pronunciation of the Beijing dialect. Elements from other dialects continue to exist in the standard language, but as exceptions rather than the rule. Following the end of the Chinese Civil War , the People's Republic of China (PRC) continued standardisation efforts on the mainland, and in 1955 officially began using Putonghua ( 普通话 ; 普通話 ; 'common speech') instead of Guoyu , which remains

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4278-518: The same kanji, and some kanji have no kun'yomi at all. For instance, the character for east , 東 , has tō as its on'yomi , from Middle Chinese tung . However, Japanese already had two words for "east": higashi and azuma . Thus the kanji 東 had the latter readings added as kun'yomi . In contrast, the kanji 寸 , denoting a Chinese unit of measurement (about 30 mm or 1.2 inch), has no native Japanese equivalent; it only has an on'yomi , sun , with no native kun'yomi . In

4347-480: The term Hanyu is most commonly used in textbooks and Standard Chinese education, such as in the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) test. Until the mid-1960s, Huayu ( 华语 ; 華語 ) referred to all the language varieties used among the Chinese nation . For example, Cantonese , Mandarin , and Hokkien films produced in Hong Kong were imported into Malaysia and collectively known as " Huayu cinema" until

4416-447: The third tone is long and murmured , whereas the fourth tone is relatively short. Statistically, vowels and tones are of similar importance in the language. There are also weak syllables, including grammatical particles such as the interrogative ma ( 嗎 ; 吗 ) and certain syllables in polysyllabic words. These syllables are short, with their pitch determined by the preceding syllable. Such syllables are commonly described as being in

4485-437: The use and protection of ethnic minority languages. The term is derived from the title of a 2000 law which defines Putonghua as the "Countrywide Common Spoken and Written Language". Use of the term Putonghua ('common tongue') deliberately avoids calling the dialect a 'national language', in order to mitigate the impression of coercing minority groups to adopt the language of the majority. Such concerns were first raised by

4554-559: The use of Putonghua on television and the radio, as well as on public buses. The standardization campaign has been challenged by local dialectical and ethnic populations, who fear the loss of their cultural identity and native dialect. In the summer of 2010, reports of a planned increase in the use of the Putonghua on local television in Guangdong led to demonstrations on the streets by thousands of Cantonese -speaking citizens. While

4623-450: The use of Standard Chinese is encouraged as the common working language in predominantly Han areas on the mainland, the PRC has been more sensitive to the status of non-Sinitic minority languages, and has generally not discouraged their social use outside of education. In Hong Kong and Macau , which are special administrative regions of the PRC, there is diglossia between Cantonese ( 口語 ; hau2 jyu5 ; 'spoken language') as

4692-541: Was initially used during the late Qing dynasty to refer to the Manchu language . The 1655 Memoir of Qing Dynasty , Volume: Emperor Nurhaci ( 清太祖實錄 ) says: "(In 1631) as Manchu ministers do not comprehend the Han language, each ministry shall create a new position to be filled up by Han official who can comprehend the national language." However, the sense of Guoyu as a specific language variety promoted for general use by

4761-598: Was seldom used by the Chinese Singaporean community , which primarily spoke the Southern Chinese languages of Hokkien , Teochew , Cantonese, or Hakka . Standard Singaporean Mandarin is nearly identical to the standards of China and Taiwan, with minor vocabulary differences. It is the Mandarin variant used in education, media, and official settings. Meanwhile, a colloquial form called Singdarin

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