Chinese language: terminology in the 21st century

The past and present diversity of the Chinese-speaking world, as well as different history of Sinological studies, in particular, in Russia and in the West, caused the appearance of a complicated varying terminology used in modern Chinese linguistics. The term 国 语 guóyǔ “state language” (“national language”) was officially introduced for Chinese at the beginning of the 20th century, but in the PRC it was replaced by a more “democratic” word 普通话 pǔtōnghuà “common language” (“common speech”, “Standard Mandarin”). With the beginning of the period of “reform and opening up”, the term guóyǔ was not restored in mainland China, however the word 国家 guójiā “state” is widely used in a close connection with pǔtōnghuà in official documents. Recently, the modern term “dialects” was officially added to almost all traditional words for ten Chinese dialect groups, i. e. “Sinitic languages” in many Western publications.