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中文 Chinese
Family	Sub-family	Language of	Script
Sino-Tibetan	Sinitic	China, Singapore, Taiwan, United Nations	汉字/漢字 Hànzì (Traditional and Simplified)

The Chinese spoken languages comprise many regional variants. Although the English word dialect is often used to translate the Chinese term 方言fāng yán, the differences between the major spoken variations of Chinese are such that they are mutually unintelligible.

Classification

Most Chinese do not think of these variations as separate languages because they share a common written standard and literary and cultural tradition. Linguists, however, generally consider spoken language to be the fundamental form for classification of a language, and the standard of intelligibility is the one that is most commonly used to divide languages. By the standard of mutual intelligibility, the varieties of Chinese would be classed as separate languages. Linguists divide the variations in spoken Chinese language into seven to ten groups. Within these groups, there are many subgroups, many of which are mutually unintelligible.

List of spoken Chinese languages

Name	Abbreviation	Hanyu Pinyin	Local Romanization	Trad.	Simp.	Total Speakers
Mandarin Notes: includes Standard Mandarin	Guan; 官	Běifānghuà	H Pinyin: Běifānghuà	北方話	北方话	c. 850 million
		Guānhuà	H Pinyin: Guānhuà	官話	官话
Wu Notes: includes Shanghainese	Wu; 吳/吴	Wúyǔ	Long-short: Ng nyiu	吳語	吴语	c. 90 million
Yue (Cantonese) Notes: includes Standard Cantonese & Taishanese	Yue; 粵/粤	Yuèyǔ	JP: Jyut6 jyu5; C Yale: Yuht yúh	粵語	粤语	c. 80 million
		Guǎngdōnghuà	JP: Gwong2 dung1 waa2; C Yale: Gwóng dūng wah	廣東話	广东话
Min Notes: includes Taiwanese & Teochew	Min; 閩/闽	Mǐnyǔ	POJ: Bân gú; BUC: Mìng ngṳ̄	閩語	闽语	c. 50 million
Xiang (Hunanese)	Xiang; 湘	Xiāngyǔ	Romanization: Shiāen'ỳ	湘語	湘语	c. 35 million
		Húnánhuà		湖南話	湖南话
Hakka	Kejia; 客家	Kèjiāhuà	Romanization: Hak-kâ-fa	客家話	客家话	c. 35 million
		Kèhuà	Romanization: Hak-fa	客話	客话
Gan	Gan; 贛	Gànyǔ	Romanization: Gon	贛語	赣语	c. 20 million
		Jiāngxīhuà	Romanization: Kongsi ua	江西話	江西话

• Mandarin 北方話/北方话: This is the mother dialect of Chinese living in northern and southwestern China. It is the basis for the official spoken language of Chinese which is called 普通話/普通话 Putonghua in the People's Republic of China and 國語/国语 Guoyu in the Republic of China (Taiwan). One distinctive feature of Mandarin is the partial loss of tones in comparison to Middle Chinese and the other dialects. Another is the loss of consonants on the ends of syllables, so that while Middle Chinese had an inventory of "-p, -t, -k, -m, -n, ng", Mandarin only has "-n, -ng". In addition, Mandarin underwent fewer tone splits than the other dialects. As a result, many words which sound different in dialects such as Cantonese are homophones in Mandarin. Mandarin has adjusted by developing compound words in order to make up for the development of homophones. This is less common in other dialects.

• Wu 吳語/吴语: spoken in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Wu includes Shanghainese. Wu dialect is notable among Chinese dialects in having kept voiced consonants, such as /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/, etc. (These may in fact be better described as voiceless consonants that create a voiced breathy element across the syllable: i.e. /p\/, /t\/, etc.)

• Hakka/Kejia 客家話/客家话: spoken by the Hakka people in Southern China. Despite being a southern dialect, Hakka was the result of northern immigration. The term "Hakka" itself translates as "guest families". Hakka is has kept many features of northern Middle Chinese that have been lost in the North. It also has a full complement of nasal endings, -m -n ŋ and occlusive endings -p -t -k, maintaining the four categories of tonal types, with splitting in the ping and ru tones, giving six tones.

• Min 閩語/闽语: spoken in Fujian, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia. Min is the only group of Chinese dialects that cannot be directly derived from Middle Chinese. Due to its great internal disparity, Min can be divided into five groups of dialects: south Min (which includes) Hokkien, Teochew (Chaozhou), and Taiwanese), east Min, Putian-Xianyou, north Min and central Min.

• Cantonese 粵語/粤语: spoken in Guangdong province, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, all over Southeast Asia and by Overseas Chinese. Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong; the language of Taishan is also classified as Cantonese. Cantonese has the most intricate tone pattern among all Chinese dialects - with varieties having up to nine or ten tones. It is also the only dialect to have kept the full complement of ancient Chinese word-final consonants (p, t, k, m, n, ng)

• Xiang 湘語/湘语: spoken in Hunan province. Xiang is usually divided into the "old" and "new" types, with the new type being significantly closer to Mandarin.

• Gan 贛語/赣语: spoken in Jiangxi province.

Disputed classifications by some Chinese linguists:

Name	Abbreviation	Hanyu Pinyin	Local Romanization	Trad.	Simp.	Total Speakers
Jin Notes: from Mandarin	Jin; 晉/晋	Jìnyǔ	None	晉語	晋语	45 million
Huizhou Notes: from Wu	Hui; 徽	Huīzhōuhuà	None	徽州話	徽州话	~3.2 million
Pinghua Notes: from Cantonese	Ping; 平	Guǎngxī Pínghuà	None	廣西平話	广西平话	~5 million

• Hui 徽語/徽语: spoken in the southern parts of Anhui province - usually classified as a sub-branch of Gan.

• Jin 晉語/晋语: spoken in Shanxi province, as well as parts of Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, and Inner Mongolia. It is often classified together with Mandarin.

• Pinghua 平話/平话: spoken in parts of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is sometimes classified together with Cantonese.

Chinese pages
Introduction · Dialects · Numbers · Pronouns · Syntax · Tones · Verbs