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Francisco Varo's grammar of the Mandarin language (1703) : an English translation of 'Arte de la lengua Mandarina'

Arte de la lengua Mandarina. English
Author / Creator
Varo, Francisco, 1627-1687
Available as
Online
Summary

Francisco Varo's Arte de la Lengua Mandarina, completed ca. 1680, is the earliest published grammar of any spoken form of Chinese and the fullest known description of the standard language of the s...

Francisco Varo's Arte de la Lengua Mandarina, completed ca. 1680, is the earliest published grammar of any spoken form of Chinese and the fullest known description of the standard language of the seventeenth century. It establishes beyond doubt that this "Language of the Mandarins" was not Pekingese or Peking-based but had instead a Jiang-Huai or Nankingese-like phonology. It also provides important information about the nature and formation of pre-modern standard forms of Chinese and will lead to revisions of currently held views on Chinese koines and their relationship with regional s

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