Southwestern Mandarin

Southwestern Mandarin
Southwestern Mandarin
Upper Yangtze Mandarin
Region	Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hong Kong, others
Native speakers	260 million (2012)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Sinitic Chinese Mandarin Southwestern Mandarin; ; ; ;
Official status
Official language in	China (Guangxi)
Recognised minority; language in	Hong Kong; Macau; Myanmar (Wa State, Kokang Self-Administered Zone); Vietnam (Lào Cai Province)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
ISO 639-6	xghu
Glottolog	xina1239
Linguasphere	79-AAA-bh
	[image reference needed]

Two Southwest Mandarin speakers, recorded in Richmond, Canada.

Southwestern Mandarin (Chinese: 西南官话; pinyin: Xīnán Guānhuà), also known as Upper Yangtze Mandarin (Chinese: 上江官话; pinyin: Shàngjiāng Guānhuà), is a Mandarin Chinese dialect spoken in much of Southwestern China, including in Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou, most parts of Hubei, the northwestern part of Hunan, the northern part of Guangxi and some southern parts of Shaanxi and Gansu.

Southwestern Mandarin is spoken by roughly 260 million people.^[1] If considered a language distinct from central Mandarin, it would be the eighth-most spoken language by native speakers in the world, behind Mandarin itself, Spanish, English, Hindi, Portuguese, Arabic and Bengali.

^ ^a ^b Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (2012). Zhōngguó yǔyán dìtú jí (dì 2 bǎn): Hànyǔ fāngyán juǎn 中国语言地图集(第2版):汉语方言卷 [Language Atlas of China (2nd edition): Chinese dialect volume]. Beijing: The Commercial Press. p. 3.

[LAC2-1] Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (2012). Zhōngguó yǔyán dìtú jí (dì 2 bǎn): Hànyǔ fāngyán juǎn 中国语言地图集(第2版):汉语方言卷 [Language Atlas of China (2nd edition): Chinese dialect volume]. Beijing: The Commercial Press. p. 3.

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