fangyan

Noun

fangyan (uncountable)

1. Synonym of topolect (a regional variety of Chinese)
   • During this time the language has diversified into a number of so-called fangyan which share the same written form but are radically different in phonology, to such an extent that the spoken fangyan are not mutually intelligible.1991 January 1, Michael Clyne, Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 305
   • If analyzed by the standards applied to languages in Europe or South Asia, these fangyan would be classified as branches of the Sinitic group. Speakers from any one of the major fangyan are incapable of conversing with speakers from those of any of the other major fangyan.2005 January 31, Victor H. Mair, Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, Paul R. Goldin, Hawai‘i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture, University of Hawaii Press, →ISBN, page 2

   Synonyms:

   topolect