Chinese language

Classification and History - Chinese language is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, along with Burmese, Tibetan, and other languages in the Himalayas and Southeast Asian Massif. - Reconstruction of Sino-Tibetan is less developed compared to Indo-European or Austroasiatic families due to difficulties in language diversity, lack of inflection, and language contact. - The higher-level structure of the Sino-Tibetan family is still unclear. - The first written records of Chinese appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty. - Local varieties of Chinese became mutually unintelligible over time. - Central governments have repeatedly attempted to establish a unified standard. - The language has evolved through different stages such as Old Chinese and Middle Chinese. - The standardization of Chinese has been an ongoing process throughout history. Old and Middle Chinese - Old Chinese is the earliest attested stage of the language, with examples found in divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones. - Middle Chinese developed after Old Chinese and before Modern Chinese. - The phonetic categories of Old Chinese can be reconstructed from ancient poetry rhymes. - The Qieyun, a rime dictionary, recorded the pronunciations of different regions during the Middle Chinese period. Standard Chinese - Standard Chinese is the official language of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China. - It is one of the four official languages of Singapore and one of the six official languages of the United Nations. - Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. - It uses a logography of Chinese characters for writing. - Simplified characters have been promoted in mainland China since the 1950s, while traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Regional Varieties - Chinese languages are divided into regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese. - Mandarin is the most widely spoken variety, followed by Min, Wu, and Yue. - These regional varieties are often unintelligible to each other. - Some transitional areas exist where limited intelligibility between different branches occurs. - All varieties of Chinese are tonal to some degree and are largely analytic in structure. Significance and Usage - Chinese is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with over 1.3 billion native speakers. - It plays a significant role in global trade, culture, and politics. - Chinese characters have influenced the writing systems of neighboring countries like Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. - Learning Chinese is increasingly popular for business and cultural exchange purposes. - Chinese language education is supported by various institutions and programs worldwide.