Chinese, Mandarin
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A language of China
1,085,000,000 in China, all users. L1 users: 907,000,000 in China (2018), increasing. 70% of Chinese language users speak a Mandarin dialect as L1. L2 users: 178,000,000. Total users in all countries: 1,118,584,040 (as L1: 919,856,040; as L2: 198,728,000).
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region: northwest; Guizhou province; Hubei province: except southeast corner; Hunan province: northwest; Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. Widespread north of Changjiang river, from Jiujiang (Jiangxi) to Zhenjiang (Jiangsu).
1 (National). De facto national language.
Dongbei Guanhua (Northeastern Mandarin), Xinan Guanhua (Southwestern Mandarin), Jiang-Huai Guanhua (Eastern Mandarin, Jiangxia Guanhua, Lower Yangtze Mandarin), Beijing Guanhua (Beijing Mandarin), Ji-Lu Guanhua (Hebei-Shandong Mandarin), Jiao-Liao Guanhua (Jiaoliao Mandarin), Zhongyuan Guanhua (Central Plains Mandarin), Lan-Yin Guanhua (Lanyin Mandarin). Speakers of Kokang variety in Myanmar are reportedly most similar to the dialect spoken in Yunnan Province, China. A member of macrolanguage Chinese [zho].
SVO; prepositions; noun head final; 6 full (concrete meaning) word classes; no articles; passives; 24 consonants, 8 vowels, 6 diphthongs; tonal (4 phonemic tones).
Literacy rate in L2: 91% (2000 census, Han nationality). Taught in all primary and secondary schools. Taught in tertiary schools. Fully developed. Bible: 1874–1983.
Bopomofo script [Bopo], used since 1913, revised in 1920 and 1932, mainly used in Taiwan. Braille script [Brai]. Han script, Simplified variant [Hans], used since 1956, official in Mainland China (1956) and Singapore (1969), also used elsewhere. Han script, Traditional variant [Hant], used since mid-19th century, official in Taiwan, also used elsewhere. Latin script [Latn].
There are Mandarin speakers in all 56 official nationalities of China, but the majority in China are classified under Han, Manchu and Hui nationalities. Traditional religion, Buddhist, Christian, Confucianist, Daoist, Muslim.