Langenesis

Sino-Tibetan family

Mandarin Chinese

1300 CE – today Living

Mandarin Chinese (1300 CE – today) is a living Sino-Tibetan language. Lineage: Proto-Sino-Tibetan → Proto-Sinitic → Old Chinese → Middle Chinese → Mandarin Chinese.

See Mandarin Chinese on the interactive map
Speakers
940M (940,000,000)
ISO 639-3
cmn
Glottocode
mand1415

Modern Standard Chinese (Putonghua) is based on the Beijing dialect of Northern Mandarin. The Mandarin dialect group diverged from Middle Chinese during the Yuan dynasty (13th–14th c.).

Lineage

  1. Proto-Sino-Tibetanc. 4,000 BCE – 2,500 BCE
  2. Proto-Siniticc. 1,500 BCE – 1,250 BCE
  3. Old Chinese1,250 BCE – 25 CE
  4. Middle Chinese25 CE – 1000 CE
  5. Mandarin Chinese1300 CE – today

Sister languages 6

Also descended from Middle Chinese.

Sources