Pinghua

language
name=Pinghua
nativename=平話
states=China
region=Guangxi
speakers=2,300,000
familycolor=Sino-Tibetan
fam2=Chinese
iso1=zh|iso2b=chi|iso2t=zho

Pínghuà (zh-ts|t=平話|s=平话), also Guangxi Nanning, is a subdivision of spoken Chinese. It is spoken in parts of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and some in Hunan province. It is usually classified together with Cantonese.

Pinghua is a formerly unclassified dialect spoken by about 2 million people. When Chinese is grouped into 7 languages rather than 10, Pinghua is grouped together with Cantonese, and there is some debate about considering it a separate language. Many local people in Nanning consider there to be four "dialects" spoken in the area, namely Cantonese, Pinghua, Mandarin and Zhuang, which are not mutually intelligible. According to Wu Wei in 2001, "Pinghua is only a branch of Cantonese rather than an independent dialect group."

Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is plenty of dispute as to whether Pinghua is a language or a dialect. See Identification of the varieties of Chinese for the issues surrounding this dispute.

External links

* [http://www.glossika.com/en/dict/classification/pinghua/index.php Classification of Pinghua Dialects]