Comparison Between The Northern Mandarin Chinese Dialects Using The Swadesh List Of 200 Basic Words

Since a Japanese leaner used the method of glottochronology to calculate the similarity ratios and differentiation years of five Chinese dialects in 1960, many scholars such as Zheng Jinquan,Ma Xiwen,Wang Shiyuan, etc, have analyzed the distances between the Chinese and its related languages, and between Chinese dialects, using the numeric analysis.The 200 basic words were advanced by M.Swadesh in 1952. Inspired by the reckoning method of the radioactive element carbon-14, he attempted to calculate the genetic reserved rates of the basic etyma morpheme of languages, and then to reckon the languages' development. The choice of these 200 basic words based on the investigation about dozens of European languages, and its universality and stability had been proved. After being edited, it has been used by many scholars to research the relationship of genetically related languages.However, based on the 200 basic words, many scholars just researched the relationship between Chinese and its related languages, or just studies the relationship among a few representative Chinese dialects. Most of them always had those southeast dialects or disputed dialects in mind, and paid little attention to the Northern Mandarin Chinese, which are comparatively similar.Making use of the 200 basic words and adopting more meticulous counting method with the help of computer programs, we study the genetic reserved rates and differentiation years between the Northern Mandarin Chinese, and compare their genetic distance. With the results, we can check the modern Chinese dialects subarea division with our results, and discuss the cause of some exceptions.Based on the calculation of the genetic reserved rates and differentiation years among the Northern Mandarin Chinese, it is found that the comparing results based on the 200 basic words are consistent with the results based on the phonetic differences with a few exceptions. This finding not only can provide other powerful proofs for the modern Chinese dialects' subarea classification, but also may make up the shortage of phonetic method, and offer more scientific references and proofs for the Chinese dialects' classification.