New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-07-03
THE DIALECTS or CHINA.
AS GREAT VARIETY or SPEECH As THERE is
IN EUROPE.

AS GREAT VARIETY or SPEECH AS THERE is
IN EUROPE.
In recent Issue OF the "osmsiou'chcr L'oyd''
which paws especial attention TO Oriental uSarcs. rus
toms and folk lore Is 10 be found Interesting article
upon the language pccsliartes OF China. Contrary
TO n widespread impression In Europe. The people ~
China do all spca, Chinese 1T IS true saws the
wtttc- tin; the inhabitants q Pekin, Canton, shanc
hal Futwa and Annoy speak Chinese But 70 othc.
parts OF the country II Is also frlc that cher OF thc
places named cannot understand the Inhabitants ans
more easily than can "a Berlnee an Englishmau, or a
Pntsisn n Initchmnr. Thus the position Of The China
man I'm his country, where various socaled dlacc"
arr spoken. Is rather peculiar. The Chimes dialects
have nothing in common with the patois or 'convcr
sadonal' forms Of langnsge. They are used by the
higes' ana Lowest, classes the savants and uneuca'cd
the officials and the coolies The dialect is language
by its~lf The varous dialect forms II Is true, arc
related 10 one another In somewhat rhc
as the Arabic 20 the Hebrew. syrian and other semitic
tongues or German 10 English. Dutch, Danish. Swed
ish, etc
"n7 adds the "Lloyd at Is desirable ~ cinssiiy
the numerous dialects they may be divided into the
Canton, Hakka, Annoy, swallow. Shanghai, Ningh0
the Hananese and the Mandarlp. The youngest Of
these dialects Is tho Mandarin. Mandarin. contrary
TO the general impression Is not the universal language
OF China. The Canton tongue resembles the ancient
Chinese spoken 5000 years ago more closely than
the Mandarin. The Hakka shows also traces Of great
antiquity. 1t Is much older than the Mandarin.
almost eQuang In point OF age, the Canton tongue
or Cautonese. Tie same thing may b. said Of the
Swallow, Annoy ard shangha. dialects. In general we
may say that the languages spoken In Southeastern
China show traces Of the ancient Chinese tongue. Willie
the Mandarin tongue Is modern.
ain addition 70 these main divisions continues the
article there many other quasi dialects. spoken In
instances By thousands OF people But the same
word forms. dialect. not used by all pcrsOns
in a single district. although the di-tncts-civic
divsions-ss rule much smaller than those In
the countries OF Western Europe People distant from
one another only a few miles often totally
different dialect forms In Of the large dtics
such Canton with than million inhabitants,
one often inds several dialect forms IN use. The
variations In the Chinese tongue sfe 50 great, Indeed
that II Is not too much 10 that there many
dialect forms IN the Flowery Kingdom as days IN the
year.
"The most widely spread language is the Mandarin.
II Is used In form another In fourteen fifteen
Of the nineteen provinces composing China. There
also Northern aud Southern Maidarln tongues. The
best Northern Mandarin dialect Is spoken In PcdD.
while the best Southern Mandarin Is spoken In Maxim.
A third marked form Of the tongue Is used in
West China, especially IN TsenK iang People who
speak the various Mandarin dialects. however. can
understand one another readily. II we estimate the
population OF China at 100000 900 Of people, at Least
800. 900 900 the Mandarin tongue. All persons,
from whatever part Of China. who desire 10 enter
political official life learn this tongue.
The other Chinese languages spoken by com
paratlvely small numbers Of people. About 20OO0,O00,
for instance, speak Cantonese In form another.
II Is used In the greater part Of the province of
Quang Tong. About One-tlrd Of the people Of this
province use the Hakka tongue In It's northeastern
part the Swallow dialect Is also heard Cantonese is
also spoken In the Kuangsi province. There not
mpny Ola ectic forms Of the iakka tongue Of the
Cantonese. Passing up the coast We find about
5000 900 people speaking Swallow. In all probability
90O0000 Chinese use the Annoy dialect, which 10
semblcS swatow about closely as Portuguese re-
seiblcs spanish. still further up the coast We find
the Fuwa dialect. II H. used In q district about 80
miles long and 300 miles broad. containing a populu-
ton OF 100000 This country Is for the most part
mountainous The dialects Of Ningho aud Shanghai
although only few miles apart, differ greatly. The
HalDanese IS spoken BY the people OF the island OF
Hsinan. II Is related to the Annoy and Swallow da.
lects-slIghtly resembling tho Japanese-and IL spoken
BY about 100000 people The Inhabitants Of Lutshu
1.-THE introduction II uniform language In Chino
Is only dream Two hundred years ago the Eanrero
kang founded schools IN various parts OF the Empire
IN the hope OF accomplishing that end. but the result
was sappointng. It may be accomplished In the
future when railroads In various parts Of the country
bring the people closer together Ccntnres will pass
by before thst unc, however The Mandarin
tongue, II any, will bcoome the universal one In