East Asia

Tokyo Japanese

also: Hyōjungo, Standard Japanese

The Tokyo-area variety that forms the basis of Standard Japanese (Hyōjungo). Carried nationwide by broadcasting, education, and government use.

Kansai-ben

also: Kansai dialect, Kinki dialect, Osaka-ben

The major dialect group of the Kansai region, with Osaka as its modern centre. Strongly distinct from Tokyo Japanese in pitch accent, copula forms, and idiom. Kyoto-ben is treated separately here.

Kyoto-ben

also: Kyō-kotoba, Kyoto dialect

The Kyoto variety of Kansai Japanese. Historically the prestige speech of the imperial court, marked by softer cadence, distinct honorific forms, and a long literary heritage.

Hakata-ben

also: Fukuoka dialect

The dialect of Fukuoka and the Hakata district on northern Kyushu. Recognisable for sentence-final particles like "to" and "tai".

Tōhoku-ben

also: Tōhoku dialect, Zūzū-ben

The dialects of north-eastern Honshu around Sendai. Distinguished by reduced vowel contrasts and merged sibilants — historically caricatured as "zūzū-ben".

Hokkaido-ben

The variety spoken across Hokkaido. A relatively young dialect shaped by 19th-century settlement, mostly close to Standard Japanese but with Tōhoku and coastal influences.

Hiroshima-ben

also: Geibi dialect

The Chūgoku-region dialect of Hiroshima and surrounding Geibi area. Known to many Japanese viewers through Hiroshima-set film and television.

Nagoya-ben

also: Owari dialect

The dialect of Nagoya and the Owari plain. Sits between the Tokyo and Kansai regions and shares features with both, while keeping a distinct vowel inventory.

Beijing Mandarin

also: Pekingese, Standard Mandarin (basis)

The Beijing-area variety of Mandarin and the phonological basis of Standard Chinese (Pǔtōnghuà). Distinguished by heavy erhua and clipped syllable-final endings.

Northeastern Mandarin

also: Dōngběi Huà

The Mandarin of China's three Northeastern provinces around Shenyang and Harbin. Close to standard Mandarin but with a distinctive intonation and rich slang.

Sichuanese Mandarin

also: Sìchuānhuà

A Southwestern Mandarin variety spoken across Sichuan and Chongqing. Notably divergent in tones and vocabulary, often partially unintelligible to standard speakers.

Yunnan Mandarin

also: Yúnnánhuà

The Southwestern Mandarin of Yunnan province. Carries strong contact influence from neighbouring Tibeto-Burman and Tai-Kadai languages.

Taiwanese Mandarin

also: Guóyǔ, ROC Standard Mandarin

The Mandarin standard of Taiwan. Diverges from Mainland Pǔtōnghuà in pronunciation, lexicon, and tone, with substantial influence from Taiwanese Hokkien.

Hong Kong Cantonese

also: Yuè, HK Cantonese

The Yue Chinese variety of Hong Kong, the most internationally recognised Cantonese. Prestige variety of Cantonese-language film, music, and broadcasting.

Guangzhou Cantonese

also: Canton Cantonese, Guǎngzhōuhuà

The Cantonese of Guangzhou and the broader Pearl River Delta. The historical prestige Cantonese; closely related to Hong Kong Cantonese but with distinct vocabulary.

Taishanese

also: Toisanese, Hoisan-wa

A divergent Yue Chinese variety from the Sze Yup region of Guangdong. Once the dominant variety in early Chinese-American communities, especially in San Francisco and New York.

Seoul Korean

also: Standard Korean, Pyojuneo

The Seoul-based standard of South Korean. Carried nationwide by broadcasting and public education, and the basis of most Korean instruction abroad.

Gyeongsang

also: Southeastern Korean, Busan dialect

The Korean of Busan and the south-eastern Gyeongsang region. The most widely recognised non-standard Korean dialect, marked by its pitch-accent system.

Jeolla

also: Southwestern Korean

The Korean of the south-western Jeolla region around Gwangju. Distinct vowel realisations, sentence-final endings, and a strong rural culinary lexicon.

Jeju

also: Jejueo

The variety of Jeju Island, often classified as a separate Koreanic language. Carries archaic features lost on the mainland and is critically endangered.

Far Eastern Russian

also: Dalnevostochny govor

The Russian of the Russian Far East around Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. The youngest major regional variety, formed through 19th- and 20th-century settlement; close to standard Russian with regional vocabulary tied to Pacific life.

Khalkha Mongolian

also: Standard Mongolian, Khalkh

The Khalkha-based standard of Mongolia. The official language of the country and the largest Mongolic variety; written in Cyrillic since the mid-20th century, with a planned return to traditional Mongolian script.

Inner Mongolian

also: Chakhar Mongolian, Southern Mongolian

The Mongolian of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, centred on Hohhot. Closely related to Khalkha but written in the traditional vertical Mongolian script and with strong Mandarin contact features.

Buryat

also: Buryat-Mongolian, Buryad

A northern Mongolic language spoken across the Buryat Republic in Russia, northern Mongolia, and parts of north-eastern China. Traditional Buddhist literary language of the Trans-Baikal region.

Oirat

also: Western Mongolian, Dörbed

A western Mongolic language spoken across western Mongolia (Khovd, Bayan-Ölgii) and parts of Xinjiang in China. Sister to Kalmyk, with a separate writing tradition based on the Clear Script (Todo Bichig).

Daur

also: Dagur

A divergent Mongolic language spoken in Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia in north-eastern China. Geographically isolated from the rest of the family and shaped by long contact with Manchu and Mandarin.

Sakha

also: Yakut, Sakha tyla

The Siberian Turkic language of the Sakha Republic in north-eastern Russia. The northernmost Turkic language and one of the most linguistically divergent, with extensive Mongolic and Tungusic influence.

Manchu

A Tungusic language and the historical court language of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Now critically endangered, with only a handful of native speakers in Heilongjiang.

Evenki

A Tungusic language of indigenous reindeer-herding communities across central and eastern Siberia and northern China. The most geographically dispersed Tungusic language.

Nanai

also: Goldi

A Tungusic language of the lower Amur basin, spoken in Russia's Khabarovsk Krai and adjacent China. Around a thousand speakers, all elderly.

Hmong

also: Miao

A cluster of Hmong-Mien languages spoken across the highlands of southern China, northern Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Carried abroad through the post-Vietnam-War Hmong diaspora to the United States, France, and Australia.

Mien

also: Yao

A cluster of Hmong-Mien languages spoken by the Yao peoples across southern China and adjacent Southeast Asia. Sister branch to Hmong, with around 800,000 speakers across the diaspora.

Wu (Shanghainese)

also: Shanghai Wu, Shanghainese

The largest Wu Chinese variety, spoken across Shanghai and the lower Yangtze. The second-largest Sinitic language by speakers after Mandarin, distinct enough that it is mutually unintelligible with Mandarin.

Min Nan (Hokkien)

also: Hokkien, Taiwanese

The largest Min Chinese variety, spoken in Fujian and Taiwan and across the Hokkien-speaking diaspora of Southeast Asia. The basis of Taiwanese Hokkien and a major contributor to Singaporean Hokkien.

Hakka

also: Kèjiā huà

A Sinitic language spoken across pockets of southern China and Taiwan by the Hakka diaspora communities. Around 35 million speakers, with major communities in Guangdong, Fujian, and Taiwan.

Chukchi

also: Lygʼoravetlʼan

A Chukotko-Kamchatkan language of the Chukotka Peninsula in north-eastern Siberia. Around 5,000 speakers; one of the few languages with male and female speech-form distinctions.

Koryak

also: Nymylan

A Chukotko-Kamchatkan language of the Kamchatka peninsula. Spoken by Koryak reindeer herders and coastal communities; sister language to Chukchi within the Chukotian sub-branch.

Ainu

A language isolate of the indigenous Ainu people of Hokkaido and historically Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Critically endangered with only a handful of native speakers; subject of an active revitalisation effort.

Ket

The last living Yeniseian language, spoken along the middle Yenisei in central Siberia. Around 200 elderly speakers; recently linked to the Na-Dené family of North America in the controversial Dene-Yeniseian hypothesis.

Nivkh

also: Gilyak

A language isolate of Sakhalin and the lower Amur basin in Russia. Critically endangered; one of the few Paleo-Siberian languages with no demonstrated relatives.