The Red Cloud chief., 1892-09-09
POlYGLOT CHINA,
Facts Not GENERALLY Known Concerning
tho speech OF That Great Empire.

fekin canton, Shanghai, Futwa, aud
Annoy speak Chinese. But Us To other
parts of the country, II Is also true that
u citizen of the places named cannot
understand the inhabitants any more
easily than can n Berlincr an English
man, or u Partisan a Dutchman. Thus
tho position OF the Chinainan In his
own country, where various so-called
dialects are spoken, IL rather peculiar.
The Chinese dialects have nothing In
common with the patois, or
tional forms of language. They are
used by the highest and lowest classes,
tho savants aud u~ncducatcd, the officials
and the coolies The dialect Is a Ian
suagc Ivy, itself. The various dialect
forms. IL Is true, are related to one an
other In somewhat the same manner as
the Arabic 10 the Hebrew, Syriun, and
other Semitic tongues, OF German to
English, Dutch, Danish, Swedish. etc.
III 1t Id necessary to classify the nut
inerous dialects they may he divided
into the Canton, Hakka, Annoy, Swallow,
Shanghai, Ningho, the lIainancsc and
h Mandarin. The youngest Of these
dialects is tho Mandarin. Mandarin,
contrary to the general impression, is
not the universal language of China.
Tho Canton tongue resembles the an
cient Chinese spoken 5000 years q
moro closely than the Mandarin. The
Hakka shows also traces OF great
antiquity. IL u much older thar the
Mandarin; almost %cqualliny In point Of
age the Canton tongue or Cantonese.
The same thing may be said Of the
Swallow, Annoy md Shanghai dialects,
In general we may say that the Ian
guages spoken in southeastern China
show traces OF the ancient Chinese
tongue, while the Mandarin tongue is
MODERN.
I'm addition to these main divisions"
continues the article, there are many
other quasi-dialccts, spoken In some
instances by thousands OF people. hut
the same word forms, or dialects, are
not used by all persons in u single dis
trict, although the districts-civic di-
v~isions--as n rule are much smaller
than those in the countries of western
Europe. People distant from one an.
other only n few miles often use Totally
different dialect forms. In some of the
larger cities, such rs Canton, with
more than 1000, 900 inhabitants, one
often finds several dialect forms In use.
The variations In the Chinese tongue
are 40 great, indeed, that II Is not too
much 10 say that there are rs many din.
lect forms in the Flowcry Kingdom rs
days In the year.
"The most widely spread language IL
tho Mandarin. II is used In one form
or another in fourteen or fifteen OF the
nineteen provinces composing China.
There are also northern and southern
Mandarin tongues. The best northern
Mandarin dialect IL spoken In Pekin,
while the best southern Mandarin In
spoken in Nankin. A third marked
form Of the same tongue Is used In
west China, especially in Tsicn -Kiang.
People who speak the various Mandarin
dialects, however, can understand one
another readily. II we estimate the
population Of China Mt 300, 900, 900 of
people, at least 300, 600, 900 use the Man
DARN tongue. All persons, from what
evcr part of China, who desire to enter
political or official life learn this
tongue.
1.-THE other Chinese languages arc
spoken by comparative small numbers
OF people. About 20, 600, 900, for in
stance, speak Cantonese in n form or
another. 1t is used in the gra.ter part
Of the province Of Quang-Tong. About
one-third OF the people Of this province
use the IIakka tongue. In its north
eastern part the Swataw dialect Is also
,.-l rnapa 10 alaA e,nlrnp IN Tho
Kuangsi province. There are O so
many dialectic forms Of the Hakka
tongue az of the Cantonese. Passing
up the coast we find about 5000, 900
people speaking Swallow. In all proba-
bility 1000, 900 Chinese use the Annoy
dialect, which resembles Swallow about
rs closely as Portuguese resemble q
Spanish. Still further up the coast we
find the Futwa dialect 1t IL used In a
district about $50 miles long and BOG
miles broad, containing u population OF
5000, 900. This country Is for the most
part mountainous, The dialects OF
Ningho and Shanghai, although only a
few miles apart, differ greatly. The
Hainanese IL spoken by the people Of
Hainan. It is related to the Annoy and
Swatow dialects, slightly resembling
the Japancse-and Is spoken by about
5000, 900 people. The inhabitants Of
about Lutshu, between Japan and
FormOsa, also speak Hainanesc.
"The introduction of a uniform Ian
guage in China Is only a dream. Two
hundred years ago the emperor Kang-hi
founded schools In the various parts oi
the empire In the hope accomplishing
that end, but the result was disappoint.
ing. 1t may be accomplished in the
future when railroads In various parts
Of the country bring the people closer
together. Centuries will pass by be.
fore that time, however. v y y The
NJ andarin tongue, II any, will become
the universal M In China.-Ostasin'
fischer Lloyd.
Hs |L.
Success rs \ Soldier.
Grant No Ia the at0ra Lord Wolealou