Chinese language
Chinese Language
The Chinese language (== Template:IPA ==
The Template:IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language.
Pronunciation
The pronunciation of the term "IPA" is /aɪ piː eɪ/ in English.
Etymology
The term "IPA" is an acronym for the International Phonetic Alphabet. The International Phonetic Association, founded in 1886, created the IPA to provide a single, universal system for the transcription of spoken language.
Related Terms
- Phonetic notation: A system used to visually represent the sounds of speech. The IPA is one type of phonetic notation.
- Phonetics: The study of the physical sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (phonemes), and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception.
- Phonology: The study of the way sounds function within a particular language or languages. While phonetics concerns the physical production, acoustic transmission and perception of the sounds of speech, phonology describes the way sounds function within a particular language or languages.
- Transcription (linguistics): The systematic representation of spoken language in written form. The source of the words transcribe and transcription, the term means "to write across" in Latin, and it's the process of converting spoken language into written form. In linguistics, this is often done using the IPA.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Chinese language
- Wikipedia's article - Chinese language
This WikiMD dictionary article is a stub. You can help make it a full article.
Languages: - East Asian
中文,
日本,
한국어,
South Asian
हिन्दी,
Urdu,
বাংলা,
తెలుగు,
தமிழ்,
ಕನ್ನಡ,
Southeast Asian
Indonesian,
Vietnamese,
Thai,
မြန်မာဘာသာ,
European
español,
Deutsch,
français,
русский,
português do Brasil,
Italian,
polski) is a group of languages that form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, spoken by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China. About 1.3 billion people (around 16% of the world's population) speak some form of Chinese as their first language.
Etymology
The term "Chinese language" (== Template:IPA ==
The Template:IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language.
Pronunciation
The pronunciation of the term "IPA" is /aɪ piː eɪ/ in English.
Etymology
The term "IPA" is an acronym for the International Phonetic Alphabet. The International Phonetic Association, founded in 1886, created the IPA to provide a single, universal system for the transcription of spoken language.
Related Terms
- Phonetic notation: A system used to visually represent the sounds of speech. The IPA is one type of phonetic notation.
- Phonetics: The study of the physical sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (phonemes), and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception.
- Phonology: The study of the way sounds function within a particular language or languages. While phonetics concerns the physical production, acoustic transmission and perception of the sounds of speech, phonology describes the way sounds function within a particular language or languages.
- Transcription (linguistics): The systematic representation of spoken language in written form. The source of the words transcribe and transcription, the term means "to write across" in Latin, and it's the process of converting spoken language into written form. In linguistics, this is often done using the IPA.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Chinese language
- Wikipedia's article - Chinese language
This WikiMD dictionary article is a stub. You can help make it a full article.
Languages: - East Asian
中文,
日本,
한국어,
South Asian
हिन्दी,
Urdu,
বাংলা,
తెలుగు,
தமிழ்,
ಕನ್ನಡ,
Southeast Asian
Indonesian,
Vietnamese,
Thai,
မြန်မာဘာသာ,
European
español,
Deutsch,
français,
русский,
português do Brasil,
Italian,
polski) comes from the Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty to unify China (221-206 BC). The word "Qin" is pronounced "Chin", which is where the name "China" originates.
Varieties of Chinese
Chinese languages are usually divided into seven to ten main regional groups, the largest being Mandarin (about 800 million speakers), followed by Wu (80 million), Yue (60 million), and Min (70 million). Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and the Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms and some degree of intelligibility.
Writing System
Chinese characters have been used as the written script for the Chinese languages for thousands of years. The system consists of thousands of complex characters, each representing a syllable and an associated meaning. There are two main types of Chinese characters: Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
Phonology
Chinese languages are tonal, meaning that different tones, or intonations, can change the meaning of a word, even if the pronunciation and spelling are otherwise the same.
Grammar
Chinese grammar is based on word order and particles rather than tense and agreement markers.
Vocabulary
The Chinese vocabulary is vast and diverse. Each Chinese language has its own set of vocabulary, although Mandarin Chinese is often used as the standard for educational and official contexts.
Related Terms
- Mandarin
- Cantonese
- Hokkien
- Shanghainese
- Sino-Tibetan languages
- Han Chinese
- Traditional Chinese
- Simplified Chinese
This WikiMD.org article is a stub. You can help make it a full article.