COURSE TITLE: Chinese Culture

COURSE IDENTIFICATION: CHIN 45301

INSTRUCTOR: Professor May Ling

COURSE COMPLETED: Spring 2013

ASSIGNMENT PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Students were to pick a topic of interest about

Chinese culture and complete a research paper and present to the class.

REFLECTIONS:

I thoroughly enjoyed this project because it allowed me to incorporate my interest in

linguistics and study Chinese culture. I chose to include this because it shows the depth of

my Chinese culture coursework and an research area of personal interest to myself. In the

future, I would love to study about dialects and eventually learn to speak some of my in-laws

native Chinese dialect (Changsha dialect).

Dialects

Mary Betz

What is a Dialect?Many people think the Chinese language is just Mandarin or Cantonese. In many cases, the language differences between regions are nearly mutually unintelligible. (Speakers cannot understand one another)

Many linguists disagree on the proper term to be used divide the linguistic differences in Chinese (Fāng yán).

The linguistic term “dialect” in the West divisions of a language. It refers to mutually intelligible forms of a language, in which speakers can understand one another.

Examples include: Varieties of English including Toronto, Texas, Melborne, etc. (Speakers can understand one another)

This is not always the case in Chinese.

Fāng yán more closely translates to “varieties” or “forms” of Chinese that are not always mutually intelligible. Today, we will just call it “dialect”.

“The Chinese Language”

Though there is great variability among the Chinese language...

Use a shared written system for writing

Share the same cultural identity

Generally share knowledge of Modern Standard Mandarin (as the national language of China)

1.2 billon people speak one or more dialect of Chinese

Division of Dialects in Chinese

Chinese dialects belong to the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. It is difficult to classify the division of these dialects based on Western linguistic standards.

Mutually intelligible groups: dialects of Mandarin including Peking, Nanking, Shantung, Szechwan, etc.

Mutually unintelligible groups: Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese (Yue), Hunan, Hakka, Gan, Southern Min and Northern Min.

Most dialects can be divided into sub-dialects. A single dialect has much variability.

Example: Mandarin’s northern, southern, and southwestern dialects

Example: Hunan province’s Xiang can be divided further.

What do the differences sound like? Dialect Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UNbrQGpWJk

English Speaker: Have a look, what is this?

Mandarin Speaker: 你看，这是什么 ? (ni kan, zhe shi shen me?)

Shanghainese Speaker: 侬看看这是什么子 ? (non kui kui zui sai sa me zi?)

Cantonese Speaker: 你睇睇，呢個係乜嘢嚟㗎 ? (nei tai tai, ni go hai mat ye lei

gaa)

Next, we’ll discuss some of the large dialects in China...

Specific Dialects: Mandarin

Mandarin is one of the most well known dialects of Chinese. However, it can be further divided into sub-dialects.

Spoken in China “ranging from the northeast, down through Beijing and parts of Inner Mongolia and into China’s southwest.”

The official language of China that used in all schools.

Thus, children are educated in Mandarin. Families and friends still use their local dialects at home.

Used for formal communication including government and media

Spoken in Beijing and is the basis for Pinyin

Crayon Shin-Chan in Mandarin: http://www.56.com/w22/play_album-aid-1277072_vid-MTU1MDk5OTc.html

Yuè, Cantonese

Cantonese: Mostly spoken in Guangdong province in southern China as well as the territories of Hong Kong and Macau. It is also spoken in Singapore and Malaysia. (It has over 90 million speakers) Cantonese has many sub-categories

The standard form is spoken natively in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.

Some linguists argue that Cantonese includes linguistic features from ancient Chinese no longer present in Mandarin.

In schools, they are taught standard written Chinese, but read it with a Cantonese pronunciation. Cantonese is also the standard language for business, media, and government in Macau and Hong Kong.

It has two standard written systems including formal version (Similar to standard Chinese) and colloquial version (unintelligible to Mandarin speakers). The colloquial version includes standard Chinese characters and 1,000+ extra characters specifically for Cantonese.

Crayon Shin-chan in Cantonese: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDE5NTM1NDQ=.html

Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Specific Dialects: Wú, “Shanghainese”

Spoken in Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces, and also in Shanghai and Hong Kong by over 90 million people

The Wu Dialect includes the dialect of Shanghai (spoken by over 14 million people in Shanghai) and Suzhou

No standard written form for Shanghainese

Famous Shanghai comedian who uses the dialect in shows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuQ5DhbWsjA

Specific Dialects: Xiang, “Hunanese”Xiang or the Hunan dialect, is mostly spoken in Hunan province. It also has many sub categories including Old Xiang and New Xiang.

Xiang is spoken by more than 25 million people.

In the capital of Hunan Province, Changsha, the Changsha dialect is a prominent sub-dialect.

Dialect Sample: http://www.pearstories.org/changsha/changsha.htm

Summary

There are many other groupings of dialects including Min, Hakka, and Gan.

1. Fangyan is not equal to "dialect".

2. Chinese or Sinitic is a group and not a language.

3. Mandarin is not a dialect but a full-fledged language or, ultimately perhaps more accurately, branch of languages within the Sinitic group.

4. Modern Standard Mandarin (MSM) is the national language of China

5. The branches of the Chinese or Sinitic group remain to be established

6. "Mandarin" is not synonymous with "the Chinese language".

from Victor H. Mair, "What Is a Chinese 'Dialect/Topolect?" Sino-Platonic Papers

Questions?