Book contents
- A Student Grammar of Chinese
- A Student Grammar of Chinese
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary of grammatical terms and abbreviations
- Special symbols
- Unit I Introduction
- 1 Chinese and Mandarin
- 2 Chinese grammar
- 3 The sound system
- 4 Words and Chinese characters
- Unit II Parts of speech
- Unit III Simple sentences
- Unit IV Special sentences
- Unit V Complicated sentences
- Book part
- Bibliography
- Index
- Word-to-Grammar Index
1 - Chinese and Mandarin
from Unit I - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 April 2023
Book contents
- A Student Grammar of Chinese
- A Student Grammar of Chinese
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary of grammatical terms and abbreviations
- Special symbols
- Unit I Introduction
- 1 Chinese and Mandarin
- 2 Chinese grammar
- 3 The sound system
- 4 Words and Chinese characters
- Unit II Parts of speech
- Unit III Simple sentences
- Unit IV Special sentences
- Unit V Complicated sentences
- Book part
- Bibliography
- Index
- Word-to-Grammar Index
Summary
This chapter introduces the term Chinese and the differences between Mandarin and Chinese dialects. There are seven major dialects: Northern dialect, Cantonese, Wu, Xiang, Gan, Min, and Hakka in China. The variation between these dialects causes comprehension problems in oral communication, and as such, Mandarin (Chinese in this book), which is based on the Northern dialect as a national standard language, has become popular in present-day China.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Student Grammar of Chinese , pp. 3 - 4Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023