Differing literary and colloquial readings for certain Chinese characters are a common feature of many Chinese varieties, and the reading distinctions for these linguistic doublets often typify a dialect group. Literary readings (文讀/文读; wéndú) are usually used in loanwords, names (geographic and personal), literary works (like poetry), and in formal settings, while colloquial/vernacular readings (白讀/白读; báidú) are usually used in everyday vernacular speech.

For example, Mandarin normally read "white" (白) with colloquial pronunciation bái ([pǎɪ]), but can read it with the literary pronunciation bó ([pwǒ]) as a name or in some formal or historical settings. This example is particularly well known due to its effect on the modern pronunciation of the names of the Tang dynasty (618–907) poets Bai Juyi and Li Bai (alternatively, "Bo Juyi" and "Li Bo").

The differing pronunciations led linguists to explore the linguistic strata.^[1][2] The colloquial readings is generally believed to represent a substratum, while their literary counterparts a superstratum. Such differences reflect a history of dialect mixing and the influence of education and instruction on the area.^[3]

Characteristics

Colloquial readings typically reflect the native phonology of a given Chinese variety,^[4] while literary readings typically originate from other Chinese varieties,^[5] typically more prestigious varieties. Colloquial readings are usually older, resembling the sound systems described by old rime dictionaries like the Guangyun, whereas literary readings are often closer to the phonology of newer sound systems. In certain Mandarin and Wu dialects, many literary readings are the result of influence from Nanjing Mandarin or Beijing Mandarin during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Formal education and discourse usually use past prestigious varieties, so formal words usually use literary readings. Although the phonology of the Chinese variety in which this occurred did not entirely match that of the prestige variety, literary readings tended to evolve toward the prestige variety. Also, neologisms usually use the pronunciation of prestigious varieties.^[6] Colloquial readings are usually used in informal settings because their usage in formal settings has been supplanted by the readings of the prestige varieties.^[6]

Because of this, the frequency of literary readings in a Chinese variety reflects its history and status. For example, before the promotion of Modern Standard Chinese (Mandarin), the Mandarin dialects of the Central Plain had few literary readings, but they now have literary readings that resemble the phonology of Modern Standard Chinese.^[7] On the other hand, the relatively influential Beijing and Canton dialects have fewer literary readings than other varieties.^[3]

Some Chinese varieties may have many instances of foreign readings replacing native readings, forming multiple sets of literary and colloquial readings. A newer literary reading may replace an older literary reading, and the older literary reading may become disused or become a new colloquial reading.^[6] Sometimes literary and colloquial readings of the same character have different meanings.

An analogous phenomenon exists to a much more significant degree in Japanese, where individual characters (kanji) generally have two common readings – the newer borrowed, more formal Sino-Japanese on'yomi (音読み), and the older native, more colloquial kun'yomi (訓読み). Unlike in Chinese varieties, where readings are usually genetically related, in Japanese the borrowed readings are unrelated to the native readings.^[8] Furthermore, many kanji in fact have several on'yomi, reflecting borrowings at different periods – these multiple borrowings are generally doublets or triplets, and are sometimes quite distant in time. These readings are generally used in particular contexts, such as readings for Buddhist terms, many of which were earlier go-on (呉音) borrowings.^[8]

Behavior in Chinese

Mandarin

Literary readings in Modern Standard Mandarin are usually native pronunciations more conservative than colloquial readings.^[3] This is because they reflect readings from before Beijing was the capital,^[5] e.g. from the Ming dynasty. Most instances where there are different literary and colloquial readings occur with characters that have entering tones. Among those are primarily literary readings that have not been adopted into the Beijing dialect before the Yuan dynasty.^[5] Colloquial readings of other regions have also been adopted into the Beijing dialect, a major difference being that literary readings are usually adopted with the colloquial readings. Some of the differences between the national standards of Taiwanese Mandarin and mainland Chinese Pǔtōnghuà are due to the fact that Putonghua tends to adopt colloquial readings for a character^[10] while Guoyu tends to adopt a literary reading.^[11]

Examples of literary readings adopted into the Beijing dialect:

Chinese Wikisource has original text related to this article:

普通話異讀詞審音表

Chinese character	Middle Chinese1	Literary reading		Colloquial reading
		IPA	Pinyin	IPA	Pinyin
黑	hək入	xɤ˥˩	hè	xei˥	hēi
白	bɣæk入	pwɔ˧˥	bó	pai˧˥	bái
薄	bwɑk入	pwɔ˧˥	bó	pɑʊ˧˥	báo
剝	pɣʌk入	pwɔ˥	bō	pɑʊ˥	bāo
給	kɣiɪp入	tɕi˨˩˦	jǐ	kei˨˩˦	gěi
殼	kʰɣʌk入	tɕʰɥɛ˥˩	què	tɕʰjɑʊ˥˩	qiào
露	luo去	lu˥˩	lù	lɤʊ˥˩	lòu
六	lɨuk入	lu˥˩	lù	ljɤʊ˥˩	liù
熟	dʑɨuk入	ʂu˧˥	shú	ʂɤʊ˧˥	shóu
色	ʃɨk入	sɤ˥˩	sè	ʂai˨˩˦	shǎi
削	sɨɐk入	ɕɥɛ˥	xuē	ɕjɑʊ˥	xiāo
角	kɣʌk入	tɕɥɛ˧˥	jué	tɕjɑʊ˨˩˦	jiǎo
血	hwet入	ɕɥɛ˥˩	xuè	ɕjɛ˨˩˦	xiě
Notes: 1. Middle Chinese reconstruction according to Zhengzhang Shangfang. Middle Chinese tones in terms of level (平), rising (上), departing (去), and entering (入) are given.

Examples of colloquial readings adopted into the Beijing dialect:

Chinese character	Middle Chinese1	Literary reading		Colloquial reading
		IPA	Pinyin	IPA	Pinyin
港	kɣʌŋ上	tɕjɑŋ˨˩˦	jiǎng2	kɑŋ˨˩˦	gǎng
癌	ŋam平	jɛn˧˥	yán	ai˧˥	ái
殼	kʰɣʌk入	t͡ɕʰɥɛ˥˩ / t͡ɕʰjɑʊ̯˥˩	què / qiào	kʰɤ˧˥	ké
Notes: 1. Middle Chinese reconstruction according to Zhengzhang Shangfang. Middle Chinese tones in terms of level (平), rising (上), departing (去), and entering (入) are given. 2. 港's only attested reading is gǎng; **jiǎng is purely hypothetical.

See also

• Onyomi
• Reconstructions of Old Chinese, for a more detailed study on historical Chinese pronunciation
• Sino-Japanese vocabulary
• Sino-Korean vocabulary
• Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary#Monosyllabic loanwords
• Sino-Xenic pronunciations

References

Further reading

• Bauer, Robert S. (1996). "Identifying the Tai substratum in Cantonese". Pan-Asiatic Linguistics: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics. 5: 1806–1844.
• 王洪君 (Wang Hong-jun). (2009). 兼顾演变、推平和层次的汉语方言历史关系模型 [A Historical relation model of Chinese dialects with multiple perspectives of evolution, level and stratum]. 方言, 2009(3), 204–218.
• Wu, Ruei-wen (1 January 2002). "論閩方言四等韻的三個層次" [Chronological Strata of Qieyun Grade IV Finals in Min] (PDF). Language and Linguistics. 3 (1): 133–162. ISSN 1606-822X. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
• Wu, Tsuei-Ping (1 December 2006). "從語意角度看閩南語文白異讀的競爭現象" [Competing Of the Colloquial and Literary in Taiwan Southern Min: Semantic Analysis]. 南亞學報 (26): 147–158. doi:10.6989/JN.200612.0147. ISSN 2073-2449. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
• 李如龙 (1999). "论汉语方音异读" (PDF). Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies (1): 96–110. ISSN 0257-9448.
• 李蓝. (2014). 文白异读的形成模式与北京话的文白异读. 中国社会科学, 9, 163–179.
• Hsu, Fang-min (April 1995). "古閩南語幾個白話韻母的初步擬測：兼論擬測的條件" [A Preliminary Reconstruction of Some Vernacular Finals in Proto-Southern Min-with Reference to the Conditions on Reconstruction]. 臺大中文學報 (in Chinese (Taiwan)) (7): 217–251. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
• Hsu, Fang-min (1 May 2010). "漢語方言本字考證與「尋音」(貳)——從漢語「大」音韻地位談到漢語方言本字文讀白讀音韻對應" [Original Characters in Chinese Dialects and the Search for Pronunciations (2): "Da" and Phonetic Correspondences between Literary and Vernacular Pronunciations]. 臺大文史哲學報. 無 (72): 35–65. doi:10.6258/bcla.2010.72.02. ISSN 1015-2687.
• Hsu, Kuei-jung (1 January 2004). "台灣客語的文白異讀研究" [The Research Between the Speech Sound and the Pronunciation of Taiwanese Hakka] (PDF). 臺灣語文研究 (2): 125–154. doi:10.6710/JTLL.200401_(2).0006. ISSN 1726-5185. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
• 耿振生. (2003). 北京话文白异读的形成. 语言学论丛, 27.
• 康韶真(Khng Siâu-Tsin). (2013). 少年人對台語文白選讀ê使用情形kap影響因素 [The Usage Situation and Influencing Factors for Young People's Choice of Colloquial or Literary Pronunciations in Taiwanese]. Journal of Taiwanese Vernacular, 5(2), 38–53.
• 張堅 (Zhang Jian). (2018). 潮州方言的「正音」與新文讀層次 [Zhengyin and the New Literary Pronunciation of Chaozhou Dialect]. 漢學研究, 36(3), 209–234.
• 陳忠敏 (Chen Zhongmin). (2018). 吳語、江淮官話的層次分類：以古從邪崇船禪諸聲母的讀音層次為依據 [Strata Subgrouping of Wu and Jianghuai Mandarin Dialects—Based on the Pronunciations of Some Initials in Middle Chinese]. 漢學研究, 36(3), 295–317.
• 楊秀芳 (Yang Hsiu-fang). (1982). 閩南語文白系統的研究(Doctoral dissertation). Department of Chinese Literature, National Taiwan University.
• 賴文英. (2014). 臺灣客語文白異讀探究. Hakka Affairs Council, Taiwan R.O.C.