User:Croquant/Archives/Swadesh lists/Mandarin

Swadesh list of 207 words in English and Mandarin (simplified characters), including the pīnyīn transcription.

Presentation

 * For further information, read the article: Swadesh list

The Swadesh word list, developed by the linguist Morris Swadesh, is used as a tool to study the evolution of languages. It contains a set of basic words which can be found in every language. Various versions have been created, in particular:
 * a complete 207 words version, in which some of the words are not found in every environment (it contains for instance snake and snow)
 * a reduced 100 words version.

This word list should not be considered as an elementary lexicon to communicate with speakers of a given language; for such a purpose, the numerous existing Wikitravel lexicons are more useful. Its only objective is to give a rough idea of the language, by showing its lexical and, when possible, phonetics basis.

List
The source of the pīnyīn transcriptions is the conversion tool of the Chine Nouvelle web site.