Alternate Names: Beifang Fangyan, Guanhua, Guoyu, Hanyu, Huayu, Mandarin, Northern Chinese, Putonghua, Standard Chinese, Zhongguohua, Zhongwen
Dialects: Huabei Guanhua (Northern Mandarin), Jinghuai Guanhua (Eastern Mandarin, Jiangxia Guanhua, Lower Yangze Mandarin), Xibei Guanhua (Northwestern Mandarin), Xinan Guanhua (Southwestern Mandarin). Speakers of Kokang variety in Myanmar are reportedly most similar to the dialect spoken in Yunnan Province, China. A member of macrolanguage Chinese ,.
Status Notes: De facto national language.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 840,000,000 in China (2000 census), increasing. 70% of Chinese language users speak a Mandarin dialect as L1. Population total all countries: 847,808,270. L2 users: 178,000,000 in China.
Language Use: Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Also use Korean in predominantly Korean-speaking provinces of China. Also use English [eng], French [fra], Japanese [jpn], Russian [rus], Vietnamese [vie].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: 91% (2000 census, Han nationality). Official language taught in all schools in mainland China and Taiwan. Taught in secondary schools. Fully developed. Bible: 1874–1983.
Typology: SVO; analytic; aspect; 6 full (concrete meaning) word classes; tonal.
Spoken In: Taiwan, China, Malaysia
Writing System: Bopomofo, Braille, Han (Simplified), Han (Traditional), Latin
Nation of Origin: China
Other Comments: 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, Jewish, Muslim (Hui).