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language can be described as a structured system of conventional auditory, manual (signed), and written symbols, as well as sounds by means of which people, as members of a social group and participants of its culture, use to communicate amongst one another.
china's official dialect is mandarin, which can also be called "putonghua." most of the chinese population speaks it, but there are also several other major dialects in use within china, including cantonese, hunanese, min dialect, and more.
@M1ESELUV • May 25
references!! informational sites used and referenced on this page are ethnomed.org, alittledynasty.com, and quora.com. ethnomed was used to find the official language of the country and provide insight on which other languages are popularly spoken within this geographic area. alittledinasty provided a brief and concise history of the language. andre muller, a man with a PhD in linguistics, on quora.com provided a detailed insight to a theory of mandarin's origin.
the images below are from the 2000 film in the mood for love, and serve as a representation of the people.
language origins⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀posted • 8:04 a.m
mandarin originates in northern china. in the year of 1932, the republic officially adopted the commission’s product (known as "guoyu" or "mandarin") as the official national language of the country, and published the first definitive dictionary of the mandarin language in that year as well.
further analysis⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀posted • 7:25 p.m
while mandarin's name itself has portuguese origins, it actually stems from middle chinese (one of several chinese languages spoken around the 12th century and the common ancestor to all chinese varieties spoken within china today, with the exception of min dialects - which have no clear consense among linguists). middle chinese itself evolved from old Chinese (a varient of chinese spoken within 1200 to 300 BC and the earliest form of chinese recorded in history). old chinese is a sinitic language, which is believed to have been like proto-sinitic, or at least very close to it. chronologically, the language has believed to have evolved as: proto-sino-tibetan (a daughter language that derives from the sinitic language branch to its origin, the sino-tibetan language family) > proto-sinitic > old chinese > middle chinese > mandarin. while it is not completely certain the sinitic languages split off from the other sino-tibetan languages, it is an idea supported by most linguists.
