Chinese, Xiang

Print

A language of China

ISO 639-3
hsn
Alternate Names
Hsiang, Hunan, Hunanese, Xiang
Population

36,000,000 in China (1984). Population total all countries: 36,000,290.

Location

Hunan Province, Sichuan Province, over 20 counties; parts of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province. Also in United States.

Language Maps
Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese
Dialects

Changsha, Changyi, Jishou, Jishu, Jixu, Loudi, Luoshao, Shaoyang, Xupu, Yiyang. Linguistically between Mandarin [cmn] and Wu [wuu] Chinese and marginally intelligible with them. Becoming more similar to (southwestern) Mandarin [cmn] and is losing non-northern features. 3 main dialect groups: Changyi (includes Changsha and Yiyang), Luoshao (includes Loudi and Shaoyang), and Jixu (Jishu) (includes Xupu and Jishou).

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 91% (2000 census, Han nationality). Highly literate in Chinese, and they use that literature.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Chinese, Xiang
Writing
Han script, Simplified variant. Han script, Traditional variant.
Other Comments

Majority officially classified within Han nationality.