Introduction to modern Chinese, this word usually has two interpretations: broad and narrow. The broad interpretation refers to the languages used by the Han nationality since modern times, including national languages-Putonghua and dialects; Modern Chinese in a narrow sense only refers to Putonghua. Modern Chinese course is modern Chinese in a narrow sense.
Contemporary Chinese
Language and modern Chinese have commonness and individuality. As a language, modern Chinese has all the attributes of all languages.
Form a basic dialect with the same language.
Dialect, which is the basis of national homonyms, is called basic dialect. Northern dialect is the basic dialect of modern Chinese.
Political, economic and cultural factors that form the same language.
Putonghua is pronounced with Beijing accent as the standard, which conforms to the objective situation of people using Chinese. Any national homonym needs the pronunciation of a local dialect as the standard pronunciation, and the pronunciation of different places cannot be pieced together into a standard pronunciation, so does Chinese homonyms. It is the inevitable result of the historical development of China that Putonghua takes Beijing pronunciation as the standard pronunciation. For more than 800 years since Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing has been the capital city and has become the political, economic and cultural center of our country. Therefore, the influence of Beijing dialect is becoming more and more significant and its status is becoming more and more important. As the common language of the government, Beijing dialect has spread all over the country. After the May 4th Movement, the "national language" and "national voice" were also pronounced with Beijing accent as the standard, which is the general trend. It should be noted that "taking Beijing dialect as the standard pronunciation" refers to taking Beijing phonetic system as the standard pronunciation of Putonghua, excluding the local accent, over-soft tone and children's pronunciation of Beijing dialect.
Putonghua is based on the northern dialect and is formed on the basis of the northern dialect. Northern dialect has the widest distribution area, the largest number of users and the greatest influence. Screenplays of the Song Dynasty, Yuan Zaju and novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Water Margin, The Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dream of Red Mansions, are all written in northern dialects. These works have had a far-reaching impact on the people for a long time, and northern dialects have been widely spread through these works. After the May 4th Movement, many vernacular works were written in northern dialects, and the spread of these works further expanded the influence of northern dialects. It is a historical necessity that the northern dialect becomes the basic dialect of Putonghua. Putonghua "dialect based on northern dialect" means that the vocabulary standard of Putonghua is based on northern dialect vocabulary. The vocabulary of Putonghua comes from the northern dialect, but not all the words of the northern dialect can enter Putonghua, and those words with no universal meaning and strong local customs should not be absorbed into Putonghua. On the other hand, in order to meet the needs of use, Putonghua can also absorb useful elements from non-basic dialects, such as dialect words, archaic words and foreign words. , enrich the vocabulary of Putonghua.
Putonghua takes the typical modern vernacular as its grammatical norm. Because the written grammar processed by the author is more abstract, more general and more stable than oral grammar, it is appropriate to take written works as the basis of grammatical standards. However, not all use cases of modern vernacular works can be used as norms, and special use cases, grammatical components of dialects and grammatical errors in works should be excluded. Therefore, it is more accurate to interpret this article as "taking the general use cases of typical modern vernacular works as grammatical norms".
Dialect China has a vast territory, and dialects vary greatly from place to place, among which pronunciation is the biggest difference, followed by vocabulary and grammar. Therefore, the division of dialect areas is mainly based on phonetic standards, which is embodied in the following aspects: (1) the systematic opposition between medieval full-voiced initials and voiced initials and the evolution law of full-voiced initials; Whether there was an evolution law of ending rhyme and entering rhyme in the Middle Ages; There are several nasal endings and the evolution laws of medieval Yang Shengyun; In the Middle Ages, there were several sets of affricate initials, and the evolution law of Beijing, Zhi, Zhuang, Zhang and Jian initials.
According to the above standards, the most influential view at present is to divide Chinese dialects into seven major dialect areas, namely, Northern Dialect, Wu Dialect, Hunan Dialect, Gan Dialect, Hakka Dialect, Min Dialect and Guangzhou Dialect. A brief introduction is as follows:
Northern dialect
Also known as mandarin dialect or northern dialect, the representative dialect is Beijing dialect. Northern dialect is the basic dialect of modern Han nationality, with the widest distribution area and the largest population.
According to internal differences, northern dialects can be divided into four smaller dialects:
(1) Dialects in North China and Northeast China are distributed in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and parts of Inner Mongolia. (2) Northwest dialects are distributed in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu and other provinces and parts of Qinghai, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, as well as Xinjiang where Han people live in concentrated communities.
(3) Southwest dialects are distributed in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces, most parts of Hubei, northwestern Guangxi and northwestern Hunan.
(4) Jianghuai dialect is distributed in Anhui Province, Jiangsu Province, north of the Yangtze River (Xuzhou and Bengbu belong to North China and Northeast China dialects), and along the south bank of the Yangtze River, west of Zhenjiang and east of Jiujiang.
Wu dialect
Also known as Wu dialect, it represented Suzhou dialect in the early days, and now it is Shanghai dialect and Suzhou dialect. It is distributed in Shanghai, south of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province and east of Zhenjiang (excluding Zhenjiang), a small part of Nantong and most parts of Zhejiang.
Hunan dialect
Also known as Xiang dialect, the representative dialect is Changsha dialect. It is distributed in most areas of Hunan Province (except the northwest corner).
Gan dialect
Also known as Gan dialect, the representative dialect is Nanchang dialect. It is distributed in most areas of Jiangxi Province (except the northeast along the river and south).
Hakka dialect
Also known as Hakka dialect, the representative dialect is Meixian dialect in Guangdong. Hakka dialect is formed by the migration of ancient Hakkas from the Central Plains to the south, and its distribution is relatively scattered, mainly in Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan Province, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan and other provinces. Among them, eastern and northern Guangdong, western Fujian, southwestern Jiangxi and southeastern Guangxi are the main areas, and Hakka dialect is also distributed in overseas Chinese communities.
Fujian dialect
Also known as Min dialect, it is mainly distributed in most areas of Fujian and Hainan, Chaoshan area in eastern Guangdong, parts of Leizhou Peninsula, parts of Wenzhou area in southern Zhejiang, a few areas in Guangxi and most places where Han people live in Taiwan Province Province, and Chinese communities in Southeast Asia are also widely distributed.
Min dialect is a dialect with the biggest internal differences and the most complicated phonetic phenomena, which can be divided into five sub-dialects: eastern Fujian, southern Fujian, northern Fujian, central Fujian and Puxian. Among them, Fujian Oriental dialect is represented by Fuzhou dialect, which is mainly distributed in the lower reaches of Minjiang River in eastern Fujian. Minnan dialect, represented by Xiamen dialect, is distributed in Minnan and Chaoshan areas of Taiwan Province Province, and in 24 counties of Guangdong, Leizhou Peninsula of Hainan Province and southern Zhejiang.
Cantonese
Also known as Cantonese, the representative dialect is Cantonese, which is distributed in central and southwestern Guangdong, eastern and southern Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, and also widely distributed in Chinese communities in the United States and Australia.
Phonetics (1) Every syllable has a tone. The rise and fall of Chinese syllables (almost equivalent to Chinese characters) have different meanings. For example, the initials and finals of the four syllables "soup, sugar, lying and scalding" are all the same, but because of the different pitch changes, their meanings are different, and they are also written in four different words. This kind of pitch change with different meanings in syllables is called "tune". Mandarin has four tones, namely, flat tone, rising tone, rising tone and falling tone, which are called "four tones" for short.
(2) Simple rules of syllable structure. Chinese is a very monosyllabic language, and its syllable boundaries are particularly clear. Syllables in Chinese are the basic pronunciation units that ordinary people can perceive, and almost every syllable has meaning. The syllable structure of Chinese is closely constructed, and each syllable is composed of initials, finals and tones.
Phonetic overview
First, the essence of pronunciation.
Speech is a kind of communication sound issued by human vocal organs, and it is a meaningful sound. Speech is the material shell of language, and language should communicate by transmitting information through speech.
(1). Physical attributes of speech
Speech is first of all a kind of sound, which, like other sounds in nature, is produced by the vibration of objects and has physical properties. The physical attributes of speech have four basic elements: pitch, sound intensity, sound length and timbre.
The pitch of 1 refers to the sound level, which is determined by the vibration speed of the pronunciation body. The frequency of sound wave is the number of cycles of the vibration of the bell wave per second. The more times of vibration in a certain period of time, the higher the frequency and the higher the sound; If the number of vibrations is small, the frequency will be low and the sound will be low. The vibration frequency of the pronunciation body is related to its size, length, thickness and tension. Pronunciation is long, loud, loose and thick. Slow vibration, low frequency, low sound, and vice versa. The level of pronunciation is related to the length, thickness and tightness of vocal cords. People's vocal cords are not exactly the same Generally, adult male vocal cords are long and thick, while adult female vocal cords are short and thin, so it sounds slightly lower than that of women. In addition, when the same person pronounces, the tightness of vocal cords is different and the sound is different. Tones in Chinese, such as "Du", "Du", "D incarnation" and "Degree" in Mandarin, are mainly composed of different pitches.
Sound intensity refers to the intensity of sound, which is determined by the amplitude of sound waves. When the amplitude is large, the sound is strong; If the amplitude is small, the sound will be weak. When you drum, the sound will be very strong and powerful, and the sound will be very loud; If the force is small, the sound intensity is weak and the sound is small. The sound intensity of "dutiful son" in Putonghua is different from that of "son". The former is stronger and the latter is weaker. The light and heavy sounds in words are mainly formed by the difference of sound strength. Moreover, the strength of sound can also distinguish the meaning of words in Putonghua. For example, the word "Tao" in "authentic" has different meanings when it is pronounced as light tone and non-light tone respectively.
The sound length refers to the length of the sound, which is determined by the vibration time of the pronunciation body. Long time, long voice; Short time, low voice. The vowel length in English has different meanings, such as the difference between a boat and a sheep, mainly the vowel length. Sheep have a long [I:] sound, while ships have a short sound. In Putonghua and most Chinese dialects, the sound length has little effect on distinguishing the meaning of words, but it has a certain effect on expressing the feelings of sentences.
The sound length in light syllables is shorter. For example, there is a difference between reading the word "bright" and reading the word "moon" lightly, and the sound length of "bright" in "moon" is shorter.
Timbre refers to the characteristics of sound, which is determined by the different shapes of sound waves. It is the essence of every sound, so it is also called sound quality. Different sounds, different pronunciation methods and different shapes of buzzers will all cause different timbres.
1. Different pronunciations have different timbres. For example, the sound of the huqin is different from that of the harmonica because the pronunciation is strings and reeds. When B is pronounced in Mandarin, the main pronunciation organs are the upper lip and the lower lip, while when B is pronounced, the main pronunciation organs are the root of the tongue and the soft palate, which leads to different pronunciations.
2. Different pronunciation methods have different timbres. For example, playing the same violin with a bow is different from fingering when necessary. Similarly, the main pronunciation organs of π and H are the root of tongue and soft palate, but π is pronounced by explosive method and H by friction method. The pronunciation method is different, so the sound is different.
3. Different chimes have different timbres. For example, piano and violin are all pronounced with strings, and the pronunciation method is to draw with bows. But the trumpet of cello is very big, and the trumpet of violin is very small, so the timbre is different. The cello is rich and deep, and the violin is bright and melodious. For another example, the buzzers of U and O are both oral, but the mouth opening of U is smaller than that of O, so the sound is different.
In any language, timbre is the most important factor to distinguish meaning.
physiological property
Speech is emitted by human vocal organs and has physiological properties. Pronunciation organs and their activities determine the differences in pronunciation. The vocal organs can be divided into three parts.
1. Any sound in the lungs and trachea is produced by the vibration of objects under the action of external forces. Airflow is the power of pronunciation, and lungs are the power station of airflow when exhaling. The trachea is a passage for air to enter and exit. The airflow exhaled from the lungs reaches the larynx through the bronchus and trachea, and acts on vocal organs such as vocal cords, pharyngeal cavity, oral cavity and nasal cavity. After being adjusted by these organs, different sounds are produced.
2. The larynx and the upper part of the vocal cord trachea are connected with the larynx. The larynx is a cylinder composed of four cartilages, and the vocal cords are attached to the middle of the cylinder. Vocal cords are two elastic muscle membranes, and the gap between the two membranes is the glottis, which is the channel of air flow. Vocal cords can be relaxed or tightened, and glottis can be opened or closed. When the glottis are open, the airflow can pass freely; When closed, the airflow can be squeezed out from the narrow slit of the glottis, which makes the vocal cords vibrate and make a loud sound.
3. Above the throat of the mouth and nose is the pharyngeal cavity. The pharyngeal cavity is a three-pronged mouth, the bottom of which is connected with the larynx, the front is connected with the oral cavity, and the top is connected with the nasal cavity. Exhaled air flows from the throat through the pharyngeal cavity to the oral cavity and nasal cavity. Oral cavity, nasal cavity and pharyngeal cavity are all speakers, and oral cavity is the most important for pronunciation. The tissues that make up the oral cavity are called the upper and lower palates. The upper palate includes the upper lip, upper teeth, gums, hard palate, soft palate and upper palate.
The uvula, with the hard palate in front, is fixed, and the soft palate in the back can be lifted up and down, and the uvula is behind the soft palate. The lower palate includes the lower lip and lower teeth, and the tongue is also attached to the lower palate. The tongue is the most flexible organ in the mouth. Tongue is divided into tip of tongue, surface of tongue and root of tongue. The front end of the tongue is the tip of the tongue. When stretching horizontally, the part opposite to the teeth is the tongue leaf, the part behind the tongue leaf is the tongue surface, and the part behind the tongue surface is the tongue root. The cavity above the maxilla is the nasal cavity, and the soft palate and uvula are located in the passage between the nasal cavity and the oral cavity. The soft palate rises, the nasal cavity closes, and air flows through the mouth. The sound at this time is called stress. When the soft palate droops, a certain part of the mouth closes and air flows through the nasal cavity. The sound at this time is called nasal or pure nasal. If there is no obstruction in the mouth, the air flow exhales from the nasal cavity and the oral cavity at the same time, and the sound emitted at this time will be emitted in the oral cavity and the nasal cavity at the same time, which is called nasal sound (also called semi-nasal sound or oronasal sound).
sociality
Phonetics is a social phenomenon with sociality. The sociality of pronunciation is its essential attribute, which is highlighted in the connection between pronunciation and semantics. What kind of pronunciation expresses what meaning, what kind of pronunciation expresses what meaning, there is no inevitable and essential connection between them, and it is not a personal decision, but a "convention" of a certain range of members in long-term social life. In different languages or dialects, the same meaning will be expressed in different sounds, such as the meaning of "bound book". In Putonghua, the phonetic form of sh (book) is used; in dialects, it is also expressed by Su, Fu or Xu; in English, it is expressed by the phonetic form of [buk] (book). This is just as China's famous philosopher Xunzi said in Xunzi's Rectification of Names: "There is no proper name for a name, so it is appropriate to make an appointment. It's different from making an appointment with it. The name is not true, the contract is real, and the agreed party calls its real name. " .
In addition, each language or dialect has its own unique phonetic system, which is also a manifestation of the sociality of pronunciation. Even though phonetic units are identical in physical and physiological attributes, they can have different positions or functions in different languages or dialects, thus forming different phonetic systems. For example, there are two groups of initials z c s and zh ch sh in Mandarin: private poet and mulberry leaf, while in Cantonese and Wu, there is only one group of initials z c s and no initials zh ch sh. For another example, in Mandarin, aspirated sound p t k and unventilated sound b d ɡ are clearly divided into two phonetic units: rabbit ≠ belly and running ≠ full, but in English, aspirated sound and unventilated sound count as one phonetic unit. It can be seen that the essence of pronunciation not only exists in physical and physiological aspects, but also has social attributes, and social attributes are the essential attributes of pronunciation.
vocabulary
The number of disyllabic words is dominant.
Anyone who has studied classical Chinese knows that almost all words in ancient Chinese are monosyllabic, and a word is a word. But in modern Chinese, disyllabic words account for the majority. Only in daily oral English, monosyllabic words (mainly verbs) are commonly used.
The structural forms of words are various.
Modern Chinese is dominated by disyllabic words, and children's constructions are basically compound words. There are three ways of word formation for human language in Chinese. One is overlapping word formation, that is, repeating the same root. For example, "Dad, the star, by coincidence, just now, gently" and so on. One is derivative word formation, that is, a word consists of a meaningful root and a meaningful affix. For example, "tiger, head, watch, steamed bread, Gail" and so on. There is also a compound word, that is, a word consists of two or more meaningful roots. For example, "study, further study, rationalization, expansion, vehicles, winter solstice, computer, library" and so on. Derived word formation is very common in English and other languages, but rarely in Chinese, which does not belong to strict morphological changes; Compound words are rare in other languages, but most of them are in Chinese, and their internal structure types are varied.
There are unique quantifiers and modal particles
Modern Chinese cannot directly use "several times+nouns" when explaining things, but must add a quantifier in the middle to express the unit of measurement. For example, instead of saying "five books, six strokes, three cars and four peaches", say "five books, six strokes, three cars and four peaches". Other languages, such as English, can directly say "five books, six pens, three cars" without quantifiers, and so on. Chinese sentences express mood, besides intonation, some modal particles are often added at the end of sentences. For example, "He won't! He doesn't want to? He doesn't want to, does he? He doesn't want to? He doesn't want to. " The mood of other languages, such as English, is mainly expressed by sentence mood.
grammar
Words have no morphological changes.
The main feature of Chinese grammar is that there is no morphological change after words enter sentences. For example, in English, nouns with "-s" mean plural, verbs with "-ing" or "-ed" mean continuous and past tense respectively, predicate verbs and subject nouns are consistent in person and number, pronouns (nouns) have changes in nominative and objective cases, and so on. These are morphological changes of words. Chinese words are read and written the same whether in a dictionary or a sentence, or anywhere in a sentence.
Function words are important and rich.
Grammatical relations and meanings in Chinese sentences are mainly expressed by function words. The function of function words is roughly equivalent to the morphological changes of Indo-European languages, but they are independent words rather than morphological changes. Compare: "He is writing a letter/he is writing a letter", "He has written a letter/he has written a letter", "He is writing a letter/he has written a letter" and "He has written a letter/he once wrote a letter". "Zheng, Le, Lai and Zeng" in the above sentences are all function words with different grammatical meanings.
Word order plays an important role.
For example, the words "mouse catches cat" and "cat catches mouse" are exactly the same in Chinese. Just because the word order is opposite, the sender (agent) and the receiver (patient) of the action are different and have the opposite meaning. However, in some Indo-European languages, such as Russian, because every noun has various forms such as nominative, accusative and possessive, as long as the cat uses the nominative form and the mouse uses the accusative form, no matter how the word order of the sentence changes, the grammatical relationship between the cat as the agent and the mouse as the patient will not be affected, and the meaning is the same.