The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-09-09
POlYGLOT CHINA.
Hcts Not Generally Known Concerning
the speech of That Great Empire.


1t is true that the inhabitants of
'ekin, Canton, Shanghai, Futwa, and
Annoy speak Chinese. But as to other
arts of the country, it is also true that
! citizen of the places named cannot
understand the inhabitants any more
.asily than can Berliner an English
nan, or Partisan a Dutchman. Thus
,he position of the Chinaman in his
own country. where various so-called
dialects are spoken, is rather peculiar
The Chinese dialects have nothing in
common with the patois, or CONVERSE
,ional forms of language. They are
Used by the highest and lowest classes,
The savants and uneducated, the officials
and the coolies The dialect is Ian
guage by itself. The various dialect
forms, it is true, are related to one an
other in somewhat the same manner as
The Arabic to the Hebrew, Syrian, and
other Semitic tongues, or German to
English, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, etc.
If it is necessary to classify the nu-
nervous dialects they may be divided
nto the Canton, Hakla, Annoy, Swallow,
Shanghai, Ningho, the Hainanese and
The Mandarin. The youngest of these
dialects is the Mandarin. Mandarin,
contrary to the general impression, is
not the universal language of China
The Canton tongue resembles the an
,ient Chinese spoken 5000 years ago
more closely than the Mandarin. The
Hakka shows also traces of great
antiquity. IL is much older than the
Mandarin; almost equalling in point of
age the Canton tongue or Cantonese.
The same thing may bc said of the
Swallow. Annoy and 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.
in addition to these main divisions"
! continues the article, there are many
| other quasi-dialects, spoken in some
instances by thousands of people. But
the same word forms, or dialects, are
not used by all persons in single dis
trict, although the districts-civic di-
visions-as a rule are much smaller
than those in the countries of western
Europe People distant from one an
other only few miles often use totally
| different dialect forms In some of the
larger cities, such as Canton, with
more than 100000 inhabitants one
often finds several dialect forms in use.
The variations in the Chinese tongue
are so great, indeed, that it is not too
much to say that there are as many dia-
lect forms in the Flowery Kingdom as
| days in the year
"Thc most widely spread language ~
the Mandarin. 1t is used in one form
or another in fourteen or fifteen of the
nineteen provinces composing China.
| There are also mort ern and southern
Mandarin tongues The best northern
Mandarin dialect is spoken in Pekin,
while the best southern Mandarin is
spoken in Nankin. A third marked
form of the same tongue is used in
west China, especially in Tsien -Kiang.
People who speak the various Mandarin
dialects, however, can understand one
another readily. If we estimate the
population Of China at $3.50, 900, 900 Of
people. at least 800, 900, 900 use the Man
DARN tongue. All persons, from what
ever part of China, who desire to enter
political or official life learn this
tongue.
"The other Chinese languages are
spoken by comparative small numbers
of people. About 10000, 900, for in
stance, speak Cantonese in one form or
another. 1t is used in the greater part
e Z I, ~
one-third of the people of this province
use the Hakka tongue. In its north
eastern part the Swataw dialect is also
heard. Cantonese is also spoken in the
Knangsi province. There are not so
many dialectic forms of the IIakka
tongue as of the Cantonese. Passing
up the coast we find about 5000, 900
people speaking Swallow. In all proba-
bility 100000 Chinese use the Annoy
dialect, which resembles Swallow about
as closely as Portuguese resemble s
Spanish. Still further up the coast we
find the Futwa dialect 1t is used in a
district about $50 miles long and 300
miles broad, containing a population of
5000, 900. This country is for the most
part mountainous, The dialects of
Ningho and Shanghai, altho ugh only a
few miles apart differ greatly. The
Hainanese is spoken by the people of
Hainan. 1t is related to the Annoy and
Swallow dialects, slightly resembling
the Japanese is spoken by about
5000, 900 people. The inhabitants of
about Lutshu, between Japan and
Formosa also speak Hainanese.
THE introduction of a uniform Ian
guagc in China is only dream. Two
hundred years ago the emperor Kang-hi
founded schools in the various parts of
the empire in the hope of 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. The
NJ andarin tongue, if any, will become
the universal one in China.-Ostasin-
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