Chinese General Concepts.

Speaking Chinese - Linguistic Characteristics

Chinese General concepts

Chinese language is an independent branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It includes several major subfamilies: Tibetan, spoken in Tibet; Lolo-Burmese, in Burma, and in discontinuous parts of southern China, etc.; and Karen, in lower Burma.

Besides a core vocabulary and sounds, Chinese general concepts and most related languages share features that distinguish them from most Western languages: they are monosyllabic, have little inflection, and are tonal.

Chinese general concepts in syntax is rather simple and uncomplicated but unusual from the standpoint of English.

In order to indicate differences in meaning between words that are similar in sound, Chinese uses tones, each stressed syllable has a significant contrastive pitch which is an integral part of the syllable. All Chinese languages/dialects have tones, but Mandarin has one of the simplest tone system and consist only four basic tones.